LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,   N.  J. 
Presented  by 

BV  4501  .G57  1877 
Gladden,  Washington,  1836- 

1918.  I 

The  Christian  way  r 


^ BOOKS  ♦ 
JSTATIONERVS 
*  ENGRAVING- 


The  Christian  Vi^j^- 

WHITHER    IT    LEADS    AND    HOW    TO 
GO   ON. 


WASHINGTON  "^GLADDEN, 

AUTHOR   OF    "  BRING    A    CHRISTIAN  "    '*  PLAIN    THOUGHTS    ON    THE    ART    OF 
LIVING,"     "working    PEOPLB    AND   THEIR    EMPLOYERS,"    ETC. 


NEW    YORK. 

DODD,     MEAD    &    COMPANY, 

Publishers. 


COPYRIGKT, 

Bv  DODD,  MEAD  &  COM  PAN  V. 
1877. 


CONTENTS 


I. 

PAGB 

The  Christian's  Aim , 9 


II. 

The  Christian's  Calling 28 

III. 
The  Christian^  in  the  Church 4^ 

IV. 
The  Christian  as  a  Witness 65 

V. 

The  Christian  IN  Business 8 

VI. 
The  Christian  in  Society 104 

VII. 
The  Christian's  Quiet  Life 121 


PREFACE. 


Most  of  the  novels  end  with  marriage. 
When  the  period  of  romance  is  past,  and  the 
young  people  settle  down  to  begin  the  serious 
work  of  life  the  novelist  seems  to  lose  his  inter- 
est in  them,  and  turns  away  to  fresh  fields  of 
sentiment  and  pastures  new  of  the  tender 
passion. 

The  reason  of  this  method  may  be  plain,  but 
it  is  not  a  good  reason.  Life  after  marriage 
needs  to  be  idealized  quite  as  much  as  life 
before  marriage ;  its  scope  is  wider,  its  interests 
larger,  its  affections  deeper  and  stronger.  And 
we  may  hope  that  the  time  will  come  when 
those  who  aspire  to  be  the  historians  of  the 
human  heart,  will  represent  life  in  juster  propor- 
tions, no  longer  giving  the  impression  that  its 
beauty  fades  with  the  orange  flowers,  and  that 


PREFACE. 


its  tale  is  told  when  the  minister's  voice  pro- 
nounces the  twain  to  be  one. 

Something  like  this  has  also  happened  in 
the  treatment  by  the  church  of  those  who 
are  brought  into  its  communion.  Before  their 
names  are  enrolled  on  the  church  register,  they 
are  talked  to  and  written  at  continually;  a 
great  deal  of  advice,  more  or  less  luminous,  is 
thrown  in  their  way  ;  but  after  that  the  teaching 
is  much  less  specific,  and  the  impression  is  apt 
to  obtain  that  the  end  of  all  instruction  is 
reached  at  the  first  communion.  Now  it  must 
be  true  that  some  clear  and  definite  religious 
teaching  is  needed  by  those  who  have  entered 
the  church,  as  well  as  by  those  who  seek  to 
enter  it ;  that  light  should  be  thrown  not  only 
on  the  beginning  of  the  way,  but  also  on  its 
after  stages.  It  is  important  to  know  how  to 
begin  to  be  a  Christian,  dud  it  is  equally  impor- 
tant to  know  how  to  go  on. 

With  the  hope  of  making  the  way  plainer 
this  little  book  his  been  written.  It  is  designed 
as  a  sequel  to  the  small  volume  entitled,  "  Being 
a  Christian."  That  title  might  well  be  given  to 
this   book;    for  it    is  of  dem^;-^  rather  than   of 


PREFACK. 


becomuig  that  these  pages  treat.  I  have  heard  of 
some  who  were  helped  by  the  other  little  book 
to  enter  the  Christian  way  ;  I  wish  that  this  one 
might  lead  many  from  the  joy  of  beginning  into 
**  the  glory  of  going  on." 


Washington   Gladden. 


North  Church  Study,  Springfield, 
March  2,  1877. 


I. 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  AIM. 

The  first  thing  for  the  young  Christian  to 
determine  is  what  he  is  aiming  at. 

Christ  tells  us  to  be  perfect  even  as  our 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect  ;  and  Paul,  enforcing 
the  same  truth,  bids  us  leave  the  principles 
(rudiments)  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  and  go  on 
unto  perfection.  That,  then,  is  what  we  ought 
to  be  aiming  at. 

**  Perfection  !  "  you  cry.  **  We  cannot  be 
perfect,  and  therefore  it  is  useless  to  try."  Your 
statement  is  true,  but  your  conclusion  does  not 
follow.  You  cannot  be  perfect,  nevertheless  it 
is  well  worth  while  to  try.  You  cannot  draw  a 
perfectly  straight  line,  or  a  perfect  curve,  and 
probably  you  never  will  do  either  as  long  as  you 
live  ;  but  if  you  expect  to  be  an  artist  you  must 
keep  trying  to  do  these  very  things.  Practice 
will  not   make  a  draughtsman's   work  exactly 


10  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 


/ 


and  mathematically  perfect,  but  the  longer  and 
the  more  faithfully  he  practises  the  nearer  he  will 
come  to  perfection.  Absolute  exactness  in 
drawing  never  was  achieved  and  never  will  be, 
but  there  have  been  many  artists  whose  work 
vas  approximately  accurate  and  very  beautiful. 
It  would  not  have  been  so  accurate  or  so  beau- 
tiful, if  they  had  not  tried  to  make  it  perfect. 
Just  so  with  the  art  of  living.  You  cannot, 
with  your  finite  powers^  live  a  life  of  flawless 
rectitude  ;  but  you  must  bring  your  work  at 
every  trial  just  as  near  as  you  can  to  absolute 
perfection.  The  highest  attainable  beauty  of 
character  is  only  reached  by  those  %vho  aim  at 
perfect  goodness. 

It  is  necessary,  then,  when  you  set  out  in 
your  Christian  career  to  fix  your  mark  at  perfec- 
tion, and  aim  at  it  steadily  every  day.  Nothing 
short  of  this  endeavor  will  answer  at  all. 

Just  think!  Would  it  do  for  a  builder  to 
say :  "  I  will  not  try  to  set  this  column  exactly 
perpendicular ;  if  it  comes  pretty  near  it,  that 
is  all  I  care  for?  "  Would  a  surveyor  be  justi- 
fied in  saying :  *'  I  am  not  going  to  run  this 
north  and  south  boundary  line  exactly  straight ; 


THE  CHRISTIAN  S  AIM. 


no  matter  if  it  does  veer  a  little  to  the  east  or 
the  west  ? "  What  sort  of  music  would  the 
singer  make  who  did  not  try  to  sing  in  perfect 
tune,  but  was  content  with  coming  within  a 
half  tone  or  a  quarter-tone  of  the  pitch  ?  To 
aim  at  any  thing  less  than  perfection  would  be 
in  the  singer  bad  art,  in  the  surveyor  bad  sci- 
ence, in  the  builder  bad  architecture.  To  aim 
at  anything  lower  than  perfection  is  in  the 
Christian  disciple  bad  religion. 

What  would  you  think  of  one  who  deliber- 
ately resolved  to  be  less  than  perfectly  truthful, 
or  less  than  perfectly  accurate  in  making  change, 
or  less  than  perfectly  prompt  in  keeping  his 
promises  ?  I  do  not  say  that  any  one  succeeds 
in  being  perfect  in  any  of  these  things,  but  what 
sort  of  a  man  is  he  who  either  resolves  that  he 
will  not  try  to  be,  or,  what  is  practically  the 
same  thing,  refuses  to  resolve  that  he  will  try  to 
be?  I  think  he  is  the  sort  of  man  whom  none 
of  us  want  to  keep  over  night.  In  morals  as 
well  as  in  art  and  in  science  the  standard  of  per- 
fection is  the  only  standard  that  can  for  one 
moment  be  tolerated.  From  him  who  does  not 
distinctly  recognize  it  as  the  rule  by  which  his 


12  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

aims  in  life  are  guided,  we  instantly  withdraw 
iis  from  a  man  of  corrupt  thought  and  danger- 
«ous  influence.     That  is  the  fact  so  far  as  morals 
are  concerned. 

But  what  is  our  religion  if  it  is  not  the  divine 
power  that  aids  us  in  living  moral  lives  ?  The 
end  at  which  Christianity  aims  is  a  perfect  mor- 
/  ality.  The  object  for  which  Christ  came  into 
the  world  was  to  save  men  from  trangression  of 
the  moral  law,  and  to  bring  them  to  obey  it. 
The  work  that  he  does  for  us  reaches  its  con- 
summation only  when  this  law  is  enthroned  in 
our  hearts  and  in  our  lives.  To  be  a  perfect 
Christian  and  to  be  a  perfectly  moral  man,  are 
then,  at  bottom,  one  and  the  same  thing ;  and 
if  it  is  not  safe  to  attempt  anything  less  than 
perfection  in  morals,  it  is  unsafe  to  have  any 
lower  standard  than  perfection  in  our  religious 
life. 

When  I  say  that  to  be  a  perfect  Christian  is 
the  same  thing  as  to  be  a  perfectly  moral  man, 
I  use  the  word  moral  in  a  little  larger  sense 
than  that  which  some  persons  are  accustomed 
to  give  to  it.  The  moral  law,  as  the  catechism 
says,  is  "summarily  comprehended  in  the  ten  com- 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   AIM.  1 3 

mandments  : "  and  the  ten  commandments,  as 
Christ  says,  are  summed  up  in  these  two  :  "  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart 
and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and 
thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  That 
is  the  moral  law  in  its  highest  and  completest 
expression.  Now  no  man  can  be  properly 
called  a  moral  man  who  does  not  obey  that  law. 
He  who  obeys  half  of  it  is  not  truly  a  moral 
man.  He  who  is  perfect  toward  his  neighbor ; 
but  is  not  perfect  toward  God  is  not  a  moral 
man.  Neither  is  he  morally  perfect  whose 
character  is  only  negative;  who  merely  obeys 
the  prohibitions  of  the  decalogue ;  who  simply 
does  not  kill,  nor  steal,  nor  cheat,  nor  lie,  nor 
slander,  nor  covet.  Many  men  wish  to  pass  for 
moral  men  on  the  ground  that  they  abstain 
from  these  evil  practices,  but  it  is  a  very  narrow 
and  inadequate  definition  which  is  given  to  the 
word  moral  by  those  who  make  this  claim. 
Nothing  really  deserves  the  name  that  does  not 
signify  obedience  to  the  whole  law,  as  Christ  ha«» 
laid  it  down.  And  beyond  this  there  is  nothing, 
above  this  there  is  nothing ;  it  is  the  supreme 
good  of  life      Not  to  destroy  this  law  but  to 


14  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

fulfil  it,  and  to  give  us  power  that  we  too  might 
fulfil  it  and  thus  become  the  sons  of  God,  was 
the  very  errand  that  brought  our  Saviour  down 
to  earth. 

Let  no  man  speak  then  of  "  mere  morality,** 
as  if  that  were  somehow  a  secondary  and  dis- 
pensable good.  Mere  morality  !  One  might  as 
well  speak  of  the  mere  sweetness  of  sugar,  or 
the  mere  beauty  of  a  rose  or  the  mere  correct- 
ness of  a  sum  in  addition.  To  say  of  a  man 
that  he  merely  loves  God  with  all  his  heart  and 
his  neighbor  as  himself  is  not,  I  should  hope, 
greatly  to  disparage  him  ! 

Such,  then  is  the  perfection  at  which  in  our 
Christian  lives  we  are  to  aim.  It  is  nothing  less 
than  entire  obedience  to  the  Christian  law,  per- 
fect consecration  to  the  service  of  Christ.  We 
hear  a  good  deal  now-a-days  about  "  the  higher 
Christian  life."  I  do  not  like  the  phrase.  A 
Christian  life  that  finds  its  end  in  being  a  little 
higher  than  some  other  Christian  life ;  a  holinesa 
that  consists  in  being  a  Httle  holier  than  some- 
body else,  I  do  not  believe  in.  The  curse  of 
Pharisaism  is  in  the  comparative  degree.  The 
division  of  believers  into  two  classes,  the  lower 


THE   CHRISTIANS   AIM.  1 5 

and  the  higher,  the  fine  and  the  superfine,  is  a 
most  mischievous  device.  Graded  schools  may 
be  very  good,  but  graded  churches  are  an  abomi- 
nation whether  the  grade  line  be  money  or  cul- 
ture or  "  holiness."  There  is  a  theory  that  there 
are  two  kinds  of  piety,  on  one  of  which  a  man  can 
manage  to  scrape  along  and  get  into  heaven  when 
he  dies  ;  the  other  of  which  is  a  commodity  vastly 
superior;  and  that  the  difference  between  the 
one  state  and  the  other  is  just  as  clearly  marked 
as  the  difference  between  the  unconverted  and 
the  converted.  This  theory  has,  as  I  believe, 
no  Scriptural  foundation,  and  it  is  calculated 
to  do  no  inconsiderable  damage.  Those  who 
suppose  themselves  to  have  *'  experienced  "  this 
higher  Christian  life,  are  likely  to  be  lifted  up 
with  spiritual  conceit ;  and  those  who  do  not 
aspire  to  it  will  be  encouraged  in  indolence  and 
unfaithfulness.  "  There  is  a  higher  Christian  life 
and  there  is  a  lower,"  they  say.  But  since  both 
result  in  final  salvation,  what  is  the  use,  the 
worldly  disciple  wants  to  know,  of  straining 
after  this  superior  sanctity  ?  Any  road  by"which 
a  man  can  escape  from  hell  and  fly  to  heaven  is  a 
good  enough  road  for  him.     If  the  church  is  to 


1 6  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

be  graded  a  great  majority  of  the  members  will 
be  quite  content  to  stop  in  the  lower  grade. 

No  ,  we  want  no  merely  higher  Christian  life. 
Comparative  piety  is  an  offence.  God's  law 
'  deals  only  in  superlatives.  Not  toward  that 
which  is  higher,  but  that  which  is  highest  toward 
our  thoughts  must  rise,  and  our  feet  must  travel. 
No  man  can  be  a  Christian  without  the  honest 
purpose  of  entire  consecration.  It  is  the  whole 
heart  and  nothing  less  that  is  demanded  of 
every  believer.  It  is  demanded  at  the  beginning, 
and  what  is  required  at  the  first  moment  of  the 
Christian  life  is  equally  required  at  every  subse- 
quent moment.  Surely  no  less  is  expected  of 
the  mature  disciple  than  of  the  beginner.  The 
practiced  accountant  is  not  less  particular  to  be 
accurate  than  the  child  that  is  just  commencing 
to  add.  The  adopted  citizen  is  not  supposed  to 
be  less  loyal  after  he  has  been  voting  ten  years, 
than  when  he  first  took  his  oath  of  allegiance. 
And  if  a  strenuous  purpose  to  give  the  whole 
heart  to  God,  and  to  be  perfectly  conformed  to 
his  will  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  entering 
upon  the  Christian  life  it  must  be  tk^  indispens- 
nble  condition  of  continuing  in  it. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   AIM.  I7 

The  failure  to  understand  this  truth  is  the 
cause  of  many  feeble  and  defective  Christian 
lives.  The  standard  set  up  at  the  beginning  is 
imperfect,  and  thus  all  the  issues  of  the  life  are 
distorted  and  vitiated.  The  ship  whose  com- 
pass needle  is  deflected  by  some  hidden  metal, 
is  steered  helplessly  hither  and  thither,  and  is 
fortunate  if  it  be  not  driven  upon  the  rocks  ;  and 
thus  the  life  whose  aim  is  not  directed  at  the 
pole  star  of  perfection,  is  at  the  mercy  of  every 
current   of  caprice,   and  every  gust  of  passion. 

Many  a  young  Christian  starts  out  with  no 
higher  purpose  than  to  be  about  as  good  as  the 
average.  Such-  an  one  inevitably  falls  a  good 
deal  below  the  average.  No  man  ever  comes 
quite  up  to  his  ideals  in  moral  or  spiritual  cul- 
ture;  and  if  his  conceptions  are  low,  his  practice 
will  be  lower  still. 

Others  set  forth  with  the  ambition  to  be  as 
good  as  the  best  Christians  they  know.  But 
they  forget  that  these  best  Christians  have  at- 
tained to  their  present  high  character,  not  by 
trying  to  be  about  as  good  as  somebody  else,  but 
by  trying  to  do  just  right  every  day,  to  have  their 
works  perfect  before  God.    No  man  ever  reached 


THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 


any  exalted  spiritual  stature  by  obedience  to 
any  lower  rule  of  life.  That  is  the  only  rule.  It 
is  not  "  Be  as  good  as  Paul  or  Priscilla  or  Ed- 
ward Payson  or  Lady  Huntington."  It  is  not 
**  Be  as  good  as  the  average."  It  is  "  Be  per- 
fect, even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect." 
The  projectile  that  is  aimed  at  the  zenith  goes 
the  highest ;  any  other  range  reaches  a  lower 
plane,  and  the  more  the  range  is  depressed,  the 
more  speedily  does  gravitation  clip  the  wings  of 
the  projecting  force  and  bring  the  body  down  to 
earth.  That  is  the  law  of  moving  bodies,  and 
it  is  equally  the  law  of  self-moving  and  conscious 
souls. 

Because  it  is  the  only  rational  and  logical 
thing  to  do,  and  because  it  is  the  only  safe  thing 
to  do,  we  ought  to  set  out  in  the  Christian  life 
with  the  determination  to  come  just  as  near  to 
perfection  as  we  can  every  day  we  live.  But 
there  is  another  reason.  We  ought  to  do  it 
because  it  is  the  easiest  thing  to  do.  That 
seems  incredible,  I  know ;  but  it  is  true.  If 
one  is  going  to  be  a  Christian  at  all  it  is  easier  to 
be  a  thorough  going  Christian  than  to  be  a  half- 
way Christian.     It  is  true  that  a  different  opin- 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   AIM.  I9 

ion  prevails.  Many  persons  think  that  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  Christian  life  are  all  encountered  by 
those  who  are  living  consistent  and  devoted 
lives  :  that  the  tempter  gives  us  no  trouble  so 
long  as  we  are  sluggish  and  unfaithful,  but  that 
he  brings  all  his  forces  of  temptation  and  perse- 
cution to  bear  upon  us  as  soon  as  we  wake  up 
and  try  to  do  our  whole  duty.  But  that,  I  be- 
lieve, is  a  grave  mistake.  The  devil  is  not  only  a 
fool,  he  is  a  coward  ;  and  the  more  resolute  and 
determined  the  Christian  is  the  less  the  devil 
will  trouble  him.  Over  faithless  and  timid  dis- 
ciples he  domineers  like  an  old  tyrant,  as  he  is  ; 
from  the  fact  of  the  brave  and  trustful  soldier 
of  the  cross  he  incontinently  flies. 

If  the  awakened  conscience  be  a  vicarious 
conscience,  exercised  about  other  people's  sins 
fully  as  much  as  about  those  for  which  it  is  alone 
responsible, — if  the  new  activity  be  an  activity 
that  busies  itself  mainly  with  stirring  up  others 
to  a  performance  of  their  neglected  duties,  then, 
very  likely,  the  access  of  zeal  will  arouse  opposi- 
tion, and  what  seems  like  persecution.  And  1 
have  noticed  that  those  Christians  v/ho  are 
heard  complaining  that    fidelity   bringr^    trouble 


20  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

are  often  this  very  sort  of  people  who  are  a 
good  deal  more  concerned  to  keep  their  neigh- 
bors in  the  right  way  than  they  are  to  keep 
the  right  way  themselves. 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  sometimes  faithful 
living  does  bring  loss  and  suffering,  but  even 
then  the  loss  and  suffering  that  are  incurred 
through  such  fidelity  are  a  great  deal  easier  to 
bear  than  the  whips  and  scorpions  of  reproving 
conscience  with  which  the  unfaithful  Christian 
is  constantly  tormented. 

Look  at  Paul  and  Silas  down  in  the  dark 
hold  of  that   Philippian  dungeon   at    midnight, 
-t,v  their  feet  fast  in   the   stocks!     What  are  they 

X"*"  t^j-^^doing?  Singing!  The  two  happiest  men  in  that 
^v^  /  city,  I  warrant  you  !  Ask  them  if  the  thorough- 
going fidelity  to  Christ  of  which  their  lives  are 
full  is  a  hard  service.  Listen!  One  of  them  is 
answering:"!  take  pleasure  in  infirmities,  in 
reproaches,  in  necessities,  in  persecutions,  in 
distresses  for  Christ's  sake :  for  when  I  am  weak 
then  am  I  strong." 

In  the  midst  of  perils  and  persecutions,  the 
man  whose  heart  is  stayed  on  God  thus  finds 
His  perfect  peace. 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   AIM. 


Look  at  those  two  Christians — both  tempted  '■ 
to-day  in  the  market-place.  The  one  yields 
to  the  temptation,  and  by  an  act  of  fraud  oi 
oppression  adds  a  handsome  sum  to  his  hoard, 
the  price  of  iniquity.  The  other  resists  the 
temptation.  The  act  of  wrong  which  he  might 
have  done  would  have  saved  him  his  little 
property  ;  the  act  of  right  which  he  did  do  has 
sacrificed  it  all  and  he  is  penniless.  Which  of 
the  two,  think  you,  will  go  to  his  couch  to-night 
with  the  lighter  heart  ?  Which  is  the  happier 
man  ?  Not  which  will  be,  by  and  by,  when  the  \ 
dead  small  and  great  shall  stand  before  God 
and  the  books  shall  be  opened,  but  here  to-day 
while  the  living,  small  and  great,  are  standing 
before  God,  and  the  angel  is  writing  in  the 
books  the  record  that  shall  be  read  by  and  by — 
now  and  here  which  of  the  two  men  is  the  hap- 
pier? If  you  find  any  trouble  in  answering  that 
question,  may  God  have  mercy  on  your  soul ! 
Not  to  know  and  feel  that  losses  which  come 
through  integrity  are  more  to  be  desired  than 
gains  that  come  through  sin  is  to  be  in  the 
gall  of  bitterness  and  the  bond  of  iniquity  ! 

Of  course  one  may  fall  into  such  a  condition 


22  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

of  blindness  and  stupor  that  he  shall  have  no 
conscience  about  sins  of  this  character,  but  I 
am  talking  about  Christians  now,  and  a  man 
without  a  conscience  is  not  a  Christian.  The 
Christian  may  take  the  wrong  road  in  a  matter 
of  principle — such  things  have  happened,  and 
are  happening,  alas  !  every  day ;  but  he  finds  it 
always  a  great  deal  harder  to  travel  than  the 
right  road  would  have  been.  Long  before  he 
gets  to  the  end  of  it  he  wishes  that  he  had  gone 
the  other  way. 

Let  me  not  seem  to  say  that  straight-forward 
honesty  and  fidelity  in  this  department  of  life 
is  more  likely  to  bring  material  losses  than  dis- 
honesty and  fraud.  I  say  nothing  of  the  kind. 
All  I  say  is  that  when  tribulations  do  come  to 
the  upright  Christian  he  knows  how  to  glory  in 
them  ;  that  he  has  more  comfort  in  his  misfor- 
tune than  the  crooked  Christian  has  in  his  ill-got- 
ten gains.  But  beyond  all  this  I  have  no  doubt 
it  is  true  that,  even  outwardly,  the  Christian 
who  endeavors  to  rule  his  life  by  the  higiiest 
standards  of  honesty  and  honor,  has  in  the  long- 
run,  and  on  the  grand  scale,  a  smoother  and 
easier  life  of  it  than  the  Christian  who  thinks 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   AIM.  23 

that  '  business  is  business  "  and  that  **  religion 
is  reh'gion."  **  Wisdom's  ways  are  ways  of  pleas- 
antness " — pleasanter  by  far,  and  more  pros- 
perous, too,  even  this  side  the  pearly  gates,  than 
are  the  ways  of  folly.  Of  course  they  are.  Jeho- 
vah, and  not  Beelzebub  is  supreme  in  this  uni- 
verse,— in  the  whole  of  it.     Never  forget  that ! 

What  has  been  said  of  the  Christian's  service 
in  its  moral  aspects  is  just  as  true  of  it  in  its 
more  strictly  religious  aspects.  It  is  easier  to 
be  a  good  and  faithful  Christian  in  every  de- 
partment of  life  than  to  be  a  bad  and  unfaithful 
one.  It  is  easier  and  pleasanter  to  do  our  duties 
thoroughly  >and  promptly  than  not  to  do  them, 
or  to  do  them  in  a  slipshod  and  reluctant  fash- 
ion. They  who  do  the  most  Christian  work  do 
it  with  the  least  effort.  It  is  not  hard  for  a  man 
to  serve  Christ,  with  voice  or  hands  or  feet  or 
purse,  who  is  at  it  all  the  time,  whose  heart  and 
life  arc  full  of  it.  It  comes  to  be  as  natural  as 
breathing,  and  as  good  as  a  feiist  to  him.  Not 
to  do  it  would  be  the  hard  thing  for  him.  Peo- 
ple talk  about  Christian  labor  being  a  cross,  but 
it  is  no  cross  to  the  thorough-going  Christian. 
It  is  his  meat  and  drink. 


24  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAV. 

The  people  in  the  church  who  have  the 
hardest  time  are  not  the  people  who  work,  but 
the  people  who  shirk.  I  am  speaking  of  co'irse 
of  those  people  in  the  church  who  have  con- 
sciences, who  know  that  there  is  work  to  be 
done,  and  that  they  ought  to  help  in  doing  it ; 
but  who  make  up  their  minds  not  to  do  as  much 
of  it  as  they  can,  but  to  do  no  more  than  they 
must.  These  are  the  people  who  live  uncom- 
fortable lives.  While  they  are  neglectful  and 
disobedient  conscience  keeps  scourging  them  ; 
and  when,  now  and  then,  they  make  a  desperate 
effort  to  perform  some  slight  service  for  the 
easing  of  this  pain,  they  find  it  very  hard  work. 
The  joints  of  the  spiritual  frame  get  very  rusty 
if  they  are  not  exercised,  and  it  hurts  us  to  bend 
them.  And  not  onl>  is  there  a  feeling  that  the 
effort  is  severe,  there  is  also  a  consciousness  of 
lost  power.  The  man  who  does  not  use  his 
strength  loses  his  strength.  Any  faculty  neg- 
lected is  speedily  impaired.  One  of  our  mis- 
sionaries, who  has  been  in  this  country  on  ac- 
count of  ill  health  for  three  years  told  me  the 
other  day  that  he  had  nearly  lost  the  use  of  the 
language  in  which  he  had  learned  to  preach; 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   AIM.  25 

that  it  would  cost  him  months  of  study  if 
he  should  return  to  regain  his  Bulgarian 
vocabulary.  So  with  the  language  of  t\u 
spiritual  life.  If  you  do  not  keep  speaking 
it,  you  lose  the  use  of  it,  and  when  you 
try  to  open  your  mouth,  you  stammer  and 
are  dumb. 

Is  not  all  this  true,  my  friends?  Perhaps 
there  may  be  those  among  you  who  know  by  a 
sorry  experience  that  it  is  true.  You  have  been 
trying  to  live  a  half-way  Christian  life, — or  a 
little  less  than  that,  perhaps !  Have  you  found 
it  a  comfortable  life?  Has  not  a  feeling  of 
unrest  and  dissatisfaction  made  its  home  in  your 
heart,  and  kept  you  miserable  ?  Has  not  this 
consciousness  of  your  waning  power,  this  ex- 
perience of  embarrassment  and  painful  effort 
whenever  you  have  tried  to  say  or  do  anything 
for  Christ  distressed  and  humiliated  you  ? 
Would  you  not  have  been  happier  Christians,  if 
you  had  been  more  faithful  Christians?  Has 
not  your  comfort  been  in  exact  proportion  to 
your  fidelity,  and  have  not  the  ease  and  pleas- 
antness of  the  labors  you  have  undertaken  for 
the  Master,  been  also  in  exact  proportion  to  the 


26  THE   CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

thoroughness  and  promptness  with  which  they 
have  been  done? 

I  know  that  it  is  so.  I  know  that  there  is  no 
other  way  in  which  the  Christian  can  find  any 
peace  except  that  perfect  way  in  which  the 
Psalmist  strove  to  walk.  Not  one  of  us  is 
always  in  it ;  not  one  of  us  but  wanders  from  it 
now  and  then  ;  but  happiness  is  not  found  any- 
where outside  of  it,  and  they  who  are  furthest 
from  it  are  furthest  from  true  peace.  All  you 
then,  who  have  begun  to  be  Christians,  no  mat- 
ter when  you  began,  remember  that  the  path  in 
v/hich  your  feet  is  set  leads  up  to  perfection, 
and  that  you  ought  to  be  walking  on  in  it 
steadily  every  day.  To  do  the  right  perfectly, 
whenever  the  right  is  shown ;  to  shun  the 
wrong  always,  whenever  the  wrong  is  seen  ;  to 
neglect  no  Christian  service,  to  leave  unim- 
proved no  opportunity  of  Christian  growth, — 
this  is  the  only  rational  thing,  the  only  safe 
thing,  the  only  easy  thing  to  do.  You  will  not 
always  accomplish  it,  but  you  cannot  afford  to 
undertake  anything  less.  He  who  knows  our 
frame,  because  he  has  worn  it,  will  be  patient 
with  our  failings  so  long  as  our  aim  is  the  high- 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   AIiM.  27 

est ;  when  we  wander  and  stumble  he  will  help 
us  to  rise  and  will  lead  us  back  into  the  perfect 
path ;  and  by  and  by,  O  blessed  hope  !  out  of 
the  reach  of  the  sin  anc  he  stain,  we  shall  walk 
with  him  in  white,  in  the  Paradise  of  God. 


aI 

THE   CHRISTIAN'S   CALLING. 

Christian  perfection  is  a  sphere  whose 
hemispheres  are  a  perfect  culture  and  a  perfect 
service.  It  is  of  culture,  I  suppose,  that  Paul  is 
speaking,  when  he  says  that  he  writes  to  the 
Philippians,  not  as  one  who  is  "  already  per- 
fect," but  as  one  who  is  following  after  perfec- 
tion and  striving  to  attain  it.  And  it  is  to  ser- 
vice that  he  refers  when  he  prays  for  the  He- 
brews that  the  God  of  peace  will  make  them 
**  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will."  To 
be  good,  and  to  do  good  are  the  two  objects  set 
before  the  Christian ;  to  develop  a  perfect 
character  by  rendering  a  perfect  service,  is  the 
mark  of  the  prize  of  his  high  calling  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

Which  of  these  objects  ought  to  be  first  ? 
Should  our  first  care  be  to  purify  and  ennoble 
ourselves,  or  to  do  good  to  others  as  we  have 
opportunity  ? 


THE  CHRISTIAN  S   CALLING.  29 

Practically  it  is  hard  to  keep  these  two  aims 
distinct.  True  culture,  Christian  culture,  leads 
to  service,  and  expresses  itself  in  service,  con- 
tinually;  while  faithful  and  loving  service  is  the 
very  best  means  of  promoting  Christian  culture. 

Something  that  goes  by  the  name  of  culture 
and  that  has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  service,  is 
abroad  in  the  land.  It  is  a  culture  that  deals  with 
the  intellect  and  the  taste,  and,  to  some  extent 
with  the  conscience,  but  that  does  not  change 
the  ruling  love  ;  a  culture  whose  result  is  not  the 
enlargement  of  the  whole  nature  but  the  refine- 
ment of  a  part  of  it,  and  the  crippling  of  the  rest ; 
a  culture  that  shuts  men  out  from  all  pursuits  that 
are  not  agreeable,  and  from  all  society  that  is  not 
stimulating,  and  makes  self-pleasing  rather  than 
benevolence  the  law  of  life.  Of  course  the  vo- 
taries of  this  sort  of  culture,  even  though  they 
may  be  members  of  our  churches,  are  not  likely 
to  have  much  trouble  in  settling  this  question. 
Those  who  love  themselves  so  much  better  than 
their  neighbors  that  they  will  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  any  of  them  but  such  as  can 
minister  to  their  profit  or  their  enjoyment  are 
not  in  any  proper  sense  Christians,  and  are  not 


30  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

interested  in  discovering  the  relation  between 
Christian  culture  and  Christian  service. 

These  words  are  not  addressed  to  persons  of 
this  class,  but  rather  to  those  who  have  chosen 
Christ  as  their  Master,  and  who  wish  to  be  his 
true  disciples.  And  any  one  who  with  a  sincere 
mind  has  sought  to  be  instructed  in  the  things 
of  his  kingdom,  must  have  learned  that  the  law 
of  service  is  among  the  swpreme  laws  of  that 
kingdom.  If  it  is  not  the  very  highest  law,  it  is 
surely  one  of  the  highest.  For  they  have  heard 
the  Master  himself  saying : 

"  The  kings  of  the  Gentiles  exercise  lordship 
over  them,  and  they  that  exercise  authority 
upon  them  are  called  benefactors.  But  ye  shall 
not  be  so  :  but  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  let 
him  be  as  the  younger;  and  he  that  is  chief  as 
ne  that  doth  serve.  For  whether  is  greater, 
he  that  sitteth  at  meat  or  he  that  serveth  ?  Is 
not  he  that  sitteth  at  meat  ?  BiU  I  am  among 
you  as  he  that  serveth.'' 

Even  those  who  acknowledge  this  Master, 
however,  and  who  are  faithfully  trying  to  follow 
him,  may,  if  you  put  the  question  to  them,  find 
it  difficult  to  answer  whether  holiness  is  more  to 


THE   christian's  CALLING.  3I 

be  desired  than  usefulness.  They  know  that 
Jesus  went  about  doing  good,  and  they  know 
also  that  he  came  to  save  us  from  our  sins  ;  so 
that  if  we  accept  his  grace  and  become  his  disci* 
pies,  we  shall  surely  be  led  not  only  toward  ser- 
vice, but  also  toward  sanctification.  The  Chris- 
tian cannot  become  good  without  doing  good  ; 
neither  can  he  do  good  without  becoming  good. 
A  holiness  which  is  not  the  handmaid  of  benev- 
olence, is  a  spurious  holiness ;  a  benevolence 
which  is  divorced  from  integrity  and  purity  of 
life  is  a  cheat  and  a  snare.  The  Christian  idea  is 
that  the  two  must  always  go  together,  that  a 
separation  of  them  makes  a  fatal  breach  in  the 
character. 

Unhappily  they  are  often  separated.  There 
is  a  Pharisaism  which  devotes  all  its  energies  to 
the  cultivation  of  personal  righteousness,  without 
doing  anything  for  the  good  of  others  ;  and  there 
is  a  sentimental  philanthropy  which  makes  out 
that  the  doer  of  generous  deeds  is  a  saint,  no 
matter  how  vile  his  life  may  be.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  portray  and  denounce  Pharisaism, 
for  our  popular  literature  during  the  last  thirty 
years  has   been  making  this  exposure  so  con 


32  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

stantly  and  so  thoroughly  that  nothing  remains 
to  be  said.  It  is  perfectly  safe  to  abuse  the 
Pharisee ;  he  has  no  friends.  But  in  their  cru- 
sade against  Pharisaism  our  sentimentalists  have 
developed  a  type  of  character  which  is  no  less 
disgusting.  That  is  the  good  Samaritan  with 
bad  morals ;  the  man  who  is  unfaithful  in  nearly 
all  the  relations  of  life,  and  dissolute  in  all  his 
habits,  but  whose  generous  impulses  lead  him  to 
do  a  great  many  kind  things,  and  even  to  make 
sacrifices  for  his  fellows.  In  these  popular  por- 
traitures integrity  and  purity  are  not  only  di- 
vorced from  benevolence,  but  are  even  con- 
trasted with  it,  so  that  the  impression  is  some- 
times made  that  it  is  rather  a  contemptible  thing 
to  be  just  and  clean ;  and  that  if  a  man  is  only 
kind  hearted  and  self-sacrificing  it  matters  not 
how  great  a  rake  he  is.  Thus,  to  give  a  plain 
instance,  Mr.  John  Hay  glorifies  his  hero,  Jim 
Cludso,  who  stood  at  his  post  and  burned  to 
death,  as  a  man  who  "never  lied,"  though,  ac- 
cording to  the  poet's  own  account,  he  had  two 
wives,  living  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
Just  how  a  man  could  have  two  wives  at  the 
same  time  without  lying  to  one  or  both  of  them 


THE  christian's  calling.  33 

the  poet  does  not  tell  us.  But  infidelity  of  this 
description  is,  in  all  this  sort  of  literature,  a  mere 
peccadillo  ;  that  sort  of  lying  doesn't  count ; 
some  deed  that  is  done  with  a  generous  impulse 
sponges  out  all  that  shame.  Sentimentalism  of 
this  sort  is  not  only  sickly,  it  is  nauseating. 
We  cannot  too  soon  understand  that  generosity 
can  never  be  a  substitute  for  integrity,  and  that 
the  character  in  which  the  two  principles  are  di- 
vorced is  a  radirally  unsound  character,  no  mat- 
ter which  of  them  may  have  the  supremacy. 

What,  then,  must  be  our  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion ?  Is  there  no  choice  between  holiness  and 
benevolence?  Are  they  equally  to  be  desired? 
Should  neith'er  of  them  take  precedence  of  the 
other  in  our  thought  ? 

It  is  not  an  easy  question  to  answer,  because, 
as  I  have  shown,  they  cannot  practically  be  sep- 
arated. Yet  I  think  that  there  is  a  choice  be- 
tween them,  and  that  in  fixing  our  aim  in  life, 
the  preference  must  be  given  to  benevolence 
rather  than  to  holiness,  to  service  rather  than  to 
culture.  The  two  must  always  go  together,  but 
benevolence  must  lead.  In  their  practice  Phar- 
isees and  sentimentalists  are  equally  wrong,  but 


34  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

in  their  theories,  the  sentimentalists  are  a  little 
nearer  right  than  the  Pharisees. 

You  will  see  that  service  rather  than  sanctifi- 
cation  is  to  be  our  supreme  aim,  if  you  remember 
that  the  law  of  life  is  the  law  of  love.  This  law 
does  not  forbid  a  rational  self-love,  for  we  are  to 
love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves^  but  the  tendency 
which  it  gives  to  the  affections  is  outward,  rather 
than  inward.  We  are  to  love  God  with  all  the 
heart,  and  the  only  proof  of  love  is  service — '*  If 
ye  love  me  keep  my  commandments."  We  are 
to  love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves,  and  this  love 
can  only  find  expression  in  our  efforts  to  do  them 
good.  So  far  then  as  this  law  is  obeyed,  its  effect 
must  be  to  turn  the  man's  thought  away  from 
himself,  toward  God  and  his  neighbor, — to  make 
him  think  that  it  is  more  important  that  he 
should  serve  them  than  that  he  should  labor  for 
his  own  sanctification.  Of  course  he  will  not 
neglect  his  own  soul, — he  will  keep  himself  un- 
spotted from  the  world  ;  but  he  will  always  put 
above  his  own  interests,  temporal  and  spiritual, 
the  service  of  God  and  of  his  fellow  men. 

The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  break  the  sceptre 
of  the  reigning  selfishness.     The  law  of  Christ 


THE   CHRISTIAN'S   CALLING.  35 

meets  this  old  law  that  is  in  the  members,  and 
summons  it  to  surrender.  There  is  no  compro- 
mise between  them, — there  cannot  be.  No  joint 
supremacy  is  allowed  and  no  concurrent  juris- 
diction. '*  You  have  been  loving  yourself  su- 
premely," says  Christ;  "  now  you  must  renounce 
that  allegiance  and  love  God  with  all  the  heart 
and  your  neighbor  as  yourself." 

Nothing  can  be  done  for  the  purification  ol 
any  man's  character  till  he  ceases  to  make  self  the 
centre  of  his  thought  and  effort.  The  first  step 
to  perfection  leads  out  of  self.  Therefore  the 
law  of  Christ  is  not  primarily  a  law  of  culture  but 
a  law  of  servige. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  this  point  because  it  is  oi 
considerable  importance.  If  one  makes  his  ow^n 
sanctification  the  chief  object  of  desire  and  effort, 
even  though  he  may  believe  that  sanctification 
can  only  be  secured  through  service  and  sacri- 
fice, yet  because  the  supreme  aim  centres  in  self, 
all  his  generous  acts  are  vitiated  by  the  thought 
of  the  advantage  that  is  to  accrue.  Thus  the 
reigning  selfishness  does  not  surrender,  it  only 
shifts  its  position  and  flies  its  flag  from  the 
citadel  of  Mansoul,   instead  of  the  outer  wall. 


36  THE   CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

Thus  many  a  man  is  as  selfish  in  his  religion  as 
he  ev^er  was  in  his  trade  or  his  amusements. 
He  is  a  miser  of  spiritual  gains :  his  whole 
thought  is  of  his  own  moods  and  conditions. 
The  only  remedy  for  this  distem.per  is  the  reali- 
zation of  the  truth  that  the  end  of  all  Christian 
endeavor  is  service,  rather  than  culture. 

Paul's  question,  when  the  light  from  heaven 
smote  him,  was^  then,  the  right  question : 
**  What  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do?  "  Not  first, 
What  wilt  thou  have  me  to  be  ?  but  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do  ?  The  being  is  the  result  of 
the  doing ;  the  perfect  Christian  character  is  the 
fruit  of  the  perfect  Christian  conduct.  And  the 
ruling  motive  of  the  conduct  is  not  to  be  self- 
love,  but  love  for  God  and  for  our  fellow  men. 

What  answer  does  Paul's  life  give  to  his 
question.  When  the  scales  fall  from  his  eyes  at 
the  touch  of  Ananias,  and  he  is  baptized  into  the 
name  of  that  Christ  whom  he  came  to  Damascus 
to  persecute,  how  does  he  begin  his  Christian 
life  ?  Does  his  first  thought  seem  to  be  of  self 
improvement,  or  of  service?  We  are  told  that 
"  straightway  he  preached  Christ  in  the  syna- 
gogues. *   As  he  began,  so  he  went  on.   Through- 


THE   christian's   CALLING.  37 

out  that  part  of  his  Hfe  of  which  we  have  knowl- 
edge his  energies  were  wholly  given  to  service. 
The  moral  and  spiritual  culture  that  he  gained 
was  not  sought  as  an  end,  it  came  to  him  as  the 
result  of  faithful  and  self-denying  work. 

It  does  not,  however,  follow  that  because 
Paul,  after  his  conversion,  went  straightway  into 
the  synagogue  and  preached,  we  must  all  go 
into  public  places  and  begin  to  preach.  We 
may  adopt  the  same  rule  of  service  that  he 
adopted,  but  we  may  not  all  be  called  to  the 
same  kind  of  service.  Paul  was  a  thoroughly 
educated  man  :  he  had  graduated  from  the  most 
famous  school  of  Jewish  learning;  he  was  famil- 
iar with  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and  he  was  in 
every  respect  qualified  for  the  kind  of  labor  to 
which  he  devoted  his  life.  It  was  a  very  im- 
portant, perhaps  the  most  important  branch  of 
the  Christian  service  that  he  chose  ;  but  there 
are  many  ways  of  doing  good  besides  public 
speaking,  and  it  is  quite  likely  that  the  duties 
to  which  we  are  first  summoned  may  be  of  a 
different  kind  from  those  in  which  he  was  en- 
gaged. 

Our  Master  himself  often  preached  in  public 


^8  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

places,  but  that,  after  all,  was  a  very  small  part 
of  his  work.  Not  only  did  he  in  his  conversa- 
tions with  men,  in  their  homes  and  by  the  way- 
side, repeat  to  them  the  Gospel  of  his  King- 
dom ;  not  only  did  he  in  his  many  marvelous 
works  relieve  their  wants,  and  heal  their  sick- 
nesses ;  by  methods  less  marvelous  than  these 
he  manifested  his  glory,  and  drew  men  unto 
himself.  When  it  is  said  that  he  went  about 
doing  good,  I  think  it  is  meant,  not  only  that 
he  wrought  miracles  of  mercy,  and  taught  with 
lips  divine  the  mysteries  of  grace,  but  also  that 
his  presence,  wherever  he  went,  was  a  benedic- 
tion ;  that  his  kindly  speech  and  his  gentle 
spirit,  his  countless  words  of  sympathy  and 
encouragement,  his  nameless  deeds  of  fidelity 
and  of  friendliness,  made  the  hearts  of  men 
glow  within  them.  That  part  of  Christ's  life 
which  was  most  truly  divine,  most  deeply  and 
powerfully  helpful  to  men,  was  not  reported 
because  it  was  unreportable.  It  was  what  found 
expression  in  his  looks  and  tones,  in  "  the  man- 
ner of  his  spirit,"  rather  than  in  the  matter  of 
his  speech. 

It  is  in  these  less  conspicuous  virtues,  that 


THE   christian's   CALLING.  39 

wc  shall  wisely  begin  to  imitate  him.  *'  He  that 
is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also  in 
much,"  the  Master  says.  If  we  can  serve  well  in 
these  lower  walks  of  usefulness  we  shall  learn  to 
do  larger  duties  when  they  summon  us. 

Home  is  a  good  place  to  begin.  There  is  no 
little  good  to  be  done  within  the  four  walls  of 
that  temple.  No  service  is  more  sacred  than 
that  to  which  our  homes  call  us.  In  no  place  in 
the  world  can  we  hope  to  be  more  useful  than  in 
that  place  wherein  we  spend  our  daily  lives. 
There  are,  of  course,  strictly  religious  duties 
that  we  owe  to  those  with  whom  we  live.  We 
ought  to  desire  their  spiritual  welfare  above 
everything  else,  and  to  find  ways  of  expressing 
that  desire.  But  this  is  only  one  of  the  duties 
that  we  owe  them,  and  this  duty  is  best  done 
when  we  have  evinced  our  sincerity  and  our  fidel- 
ity in  other  ways  and  by  many  infallible  proofs. 
There  are  a  thousand  methods  in  which  we  may 
put  our  religion  in  practice  in  our  homes,  and 
practice  goes  further  than  preaching  there  and 
everywhere.  The  spirit  of  Christ  is  the  spirit  of 
unselfish  service,  and  it  ought  to  find  expression 
in  all  our  conduct.     To  do  good  continually  to 


4C  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY.    • 

the  inmates  of  our  homes ;  to  speak  kindly  to 
them,  always  ;  to  lighten  their  burdens  of  care 
and  labor  in  every  possible  way  ;  to  seek  their 
comfort  and  pleasure  rather  than  our  own  ;  to 
Make  cheerfully  the  little  sacrifices  that  theif 
happiness  requires ;  to  be  patient  with  their 
faults,  while  faithfully  and  tenderly  endeavoring 
to  correct  them, — such  service  as  this  it  is  to 
which  Christ  calls  us  in  our  homes.  I  doubt 
whether  he  has  any  more  important  service  than 
this  awaiting  us  anywhere.  Yet  there  is  reason 
to  fear  that  this  kind  of  Christian  work  is  greatly 
overlooked.  We  do  not  always  think,  when  we 
ask  the  Lord  what  he  would  have  us  to  do  for 
him,  of  the  sacrifices  that  we  may  lay  upon  the 
altar  of  the  home — more  precious  in  his  sight 
than  whole  burnt  offerings.  It  is  in  this  sphere 
that  the  religious  character  is  most  sharply 
tested,  and  it  is  in  this  sphere  that  its  most 
beautiful  development  is  reached.  The  Chris- 
tian who  is  thoroughly  good  at  home,  who  min- 
isters at  that  altar  with  steadfast  patience  and 
loving  fidelity,  can  hardly  fail  to  have  influence 
away  from  home  ;  while  he  who  fails  to  manifest 
in  the  private  walks  of  life  the  graces  of  that 


THE   christian's  CALLING. 


religion  which  he  commends  in  public  places 
can  scarcely  hope  that  his  word  ^\ill  be  with 
power. 

In  other  quiet  ways  outside  the  home  uppor 
tunities  of  service  will  be  found.  There  arc 
chances  enough  to  say  friendly  words,  and  to 
do  helpful  deeds,  if  one  is  only  looking  out  for 
them.  There  are  plenty  of  rough  places  to  be 
made  smooth,  and  crooked  places  to  be  made 
straight,  and  the  heart  that  is  intent  on  doing 
good  will  delight  to  discover  them.  And  my 
point  is  that  these  neighborly  words  and  deeds, 
that  spring  from  a  thoughtful  regard  for  the  wel- 
fare of  others,  and  a  self-sacrificing  purpose  to 
secure  their  happiness,  are  in  the  truest  sense 
Christian  service.  That  is  the  most  excellent 
way  of  fulfilling  the  law  of  Christ ;  better  than 
tongues,  better  than  prophecies,  better  than 
miracles. 

Yet  I  am  sure  that  many  good  people  never 
think  of  these  unselfish  endeavors  in  the  little 
details  of  social  intercourse  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  their  neighbors,  as  being  in  any  sense 
Christian  service.  Serving  Christ,  they  think,  is 
speaking  in  the  prayer-meeting,  teaching  in  the 


42  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

Sunday  school,  distributing  tracts,  visiting  the 
widow  and  the  fatherless  in  their  affliction,  con- 
versing with  the  impenitent  about  their  souls, 
and  all  such  work.  Now  all  this  is  important, 
as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  but  after  all  a  great 
deal  of  genuine  and  valuable  Cliristian  work  is 
done  in  such  ways  as  I  have  mentioned,  in  these 
quiet  ministries  of  brotherly  kindness,  and  all 
work  that  is  done  with  a  Christian  spirit  and  a 
Christian  purpose  is  Christian  work.  He  who 
gives  a  cup  of  cold  water  in  the  name  of  a  dis- 
ciple shall  in  no  wise  lose  his  reward. 

Of  course  you  will  not  desire  the  temporal 
enjoyment  of  your  neighbors  more  than  their 
spiritual  welfare,  and  in  your  care  for  their  com- 
fort you  will  keep  wishing  for  the  opportunity 
and  the  power  to  do  them  a  higher  service ;  but 
the  main  thing  is  to  get  yourself  installed  in 
the  purpose  and  the  habit  of  doing  them  good, 
of  ministering  to  them  and  blessing  them  in 
every  possible  way.  When  that  becomes  the 
impulse  of  your  life  it  will  be  quite  impossible 
for  you  to  forget  their  deeper  necessities,  and 
the  more  enduring  joys  to  which,  if  they  are  not 
serving  your  Master,  they  are  still  strangers. 


THE  christian's   CALLING.  43 

But  you  ought  to  remember  that  any  honest 
endeavor  to  confer  benefits  upon  your  neighbors 
is  a  truly  Christian  service  ;  that  in  this  field  of 
labor  there  is  always  plenty  to  do,  and  that  it  is 
quite  impossible  for  any  of  us  to  have  too  much 
of  this  sort  of  religion. 

Not  only  by  acts  of  kindness  can  we  serve 
our  fellows,  but  also  by  acts  of  fidelity,  by  stead- 
fast adherence  to  truth  and  duty.  Many  ot 
them  are  measuring  their  lives  by  false  stand- 
ards. Not  only  by  our  example,  but  also  by 
such  sincere  and  faithful  words  as  we  may  have 
a  right  to  speak,  let  us  lift  up  before  them  a 
better  standard.  Many  of  them  are  vain  and 
frivolous,  thinking  more  of  appearances  than  of 
realities;  can  we  not  by  our  conduct,  and  by  an 
earnest  word  dropped  now  and  then,  show  them 
a  sounder  way  of  thinking,  and  a  better  way  of 
living?  That  is  a  most  important  service  which 
we  render  to  our  neighbors  when  we  set  before 
them  an  example  of  integrity,  of  purity,  of  faith- 
fulness to  every  obligation,  of  inflexible  adher- 
ence  to  the  truth  ;  and  thus  by  life  as  well  as  by 
precept  endeavor  to  lead  them  in  wisdom's 
ways.     This  kind  of  service  calls  for  firmness  as 


44  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

well  as  kindness ;  steady  walking  in  the  light  of 
our  own  convictions  ;  constant  choice  of  duty- 
above  pleasure  ; — no  obtrusive  thrusting  of  our 
notions  upon  other  people,  but  a  readiness  to 
stand  by  them  and  live  up  to  them  at  whatever 
cost.  By  such  fidelity  and  devotion  as  this  we 
can  do  our  neighbors  more  good  than  by  any 
other  method. 

"  Let  your  Hght  so  shine  before  men  that 
they  may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven."  It  is  all  summed 
up  by  saying  that  we  ought  to  set  out  in  our 
Christian  lives  remembering  that  we  are  the 
followers  of  one  who  went  about  doing  good — 
that  his  mission  is  our  mission — that  our  main 
business  is  to  do  good,  and  that  we  must  not 
look  too  high  nor  too  far  off  for  our  opportunities 
of  doing  good,  seeing  that  the  most  and  the 
best  of  them  lie  very  near  our  doors ;  seeing 
that  the  bringing  of  a  Christian  temper  and  of 
a  self-denying  purpose  into  the  details  of  our 
home  life,  and  into  all  our  social  and  neighborly 
and  business  intercourse — to  brighten  the  lives 
of  those  who  walk  beside  us  in  the  way,  to  help 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   CALLING.  45 

them  as  we  can  in  bearing  their  burdens,  anj  to 
lead  them  if  we  may  into  the  ways  of  truth  and 
peace — is  the  very  highest  kind  of  service  that 
any  man  can  think  of  rendering.  *  What  could 
an  angel  more  ?  ** 


III. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  THE  CHURCH. 

It  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  persons  to 
wliom  these  words  are  addressed,  being  Chris- 
tians, are  members  of  Christ's  church. 

If  they  are  Christians  they  are  disciples  ot 
Christ,  and  the  Church  is  Christ's  school,  in 
which,  by  his  appointment,  instruction  is  given 
to  as  many  as  desire  to  learn  the  word  of  truth 
and  the  way  of  life. 

If  they  are  Christians,  they  are  "  workers  to- 
gether with  Him,"  and  his  work  in  this  world  is 
mainly  done  by  organization,  and  the  church  is 
the  organization  by  which  his  work  is  done. 
Much  may  be  done,  no  doubt,  by  influences 
purely  spiritual,  but  as  human  beings  now  are, 
the  church  of  God  must  have  an  outward  form, 
a  bodily  organism,  in  order  that  it  may  live  and 
thrive  in  the  world.  There  is  just  the  same 
need  that  the   church   should  be  incarnate  in  a 


THE   CHRISTIAN    IN   THE   CHUkCH.  4; 

visible  assembly,  as  there  was  that  Christ  should 
be  incarnate  in  a  visible  body.  No  religious 
impression  can  be  made  upon  the  dull  senses  of 
fhe  children  of  men  without  putting  the  re'n. 
gious  life  into  palpable  forms.  Moreover  power 
is  gained  by  organization  ;  the  work  is  subdi- 
vided and  wisely  directed,  and  larger  results  are 
obtained.  It  is  just  as  unreasonable  for  a  Chris- 
tian to  refuse  to  join  the  church  and  to  insist  on 
doing  his  Christian  work  independently,  as  it 
would  be  for  a  patriot  to  refuse  to  enlist  in  the 
army  that  was  defending  his  country,  and  to 
insist  on  fighting  the  invader  alone.  In  the 
Christian  warfare  organization  is  necessary  as 
well  as  in  the  conflicts  with  carnal  weapons ; 
and  it  is  therefore  necessary  that  all  the  effec- 
tive strength  we  have  be  added  to  our  army. 
The  camp-followers  may  have  a  very  patriotic 
feeling,  but  it  is  not  in  that  part  of  the  force 
that  the  good  soldier  wants  to  be  counted. 

Furthermore,  if  he  is  a  Christian,  he  recog- 
nizes the  command  of  Christ  as  his  law,  and 
Christ  commands  his  disciples  to  be  baptized. 
No  exceptions  are  mentioned,  no  alternative  is 
suggested.     He  who  wishes  to  obey  implicitly 


48  THE  CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

the  word  of  the  Lord  will  avail  himself  of  the 
first  opportunity  to  receive  baptism  as  his  dis- 
ciple. His  response  to  the  Gospel  will  be  the 
word  of  the  Ethiopian  chamberlain.  **  See.  here 
is  water  ;  what  doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized  ?  " 
"  But  are  there  not  Christians  who  are  not 
Church  members  ?  "  you  ask.  No  doubt  there 
are  ;  just  as  there  are  Christians  who  do  not 
study  their  Bibles.  The  Bible  is  the  revelation 
of  God  to  men,  and  Christ  has  commanded  us  to 
study  it.  Yet  there  are  those  who  seem  to  think 
they  know  enough  already,  or  who  imagine  that 
they  can  learn  of  God  what  they  need  to  know 
in  nature  or  by  direct  inspiration,  and  who  there- 
fore disobey  Christ's  command  to  search  the 
Scriptures.  This  command  is  certainly  no  more 
explicit  than  the  command  to  be  baptized,  and 
to  confess  Christ  openly  before  men.  And  the 
reason  of  obedience  is  as  clear  in  one  case  as  in 
the  other.  The  Bible  is  the  treasury  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  and  therefore  all  those  who  desire  to 
be  wise  unto  salvation  ought  to  study  it  ;  the 
church  is  the  organization  for  Christian  work, 
and,  therefore,  all  those  who  desire  to  be  about 
the  Master's  business  in  this  world  ought  to  join 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN  THE   CHURCH.  49 

it  It  is  true  that  some  religious  work  is  done 
outside  the  church  ;  and  it  is  also  true  that  some 
religious  truth  is  found  outside  the  Bible. 

The  man  who  professes  to  be  a  servant  of 
Christ,  and  yet  neglects  to  join  the  church,  is 
therefore,  just  as  foolish  and  just  as  disobedient, 
as  the  man  who  professes  to  be  a  disciple  of 
Christ,  and  yet  neglects  to  study  the  Bible.  I  do 
not  choose  to  take  it  for  granted  that  the  Chris- 
tians to  whom  these  counsels  are  addressed  are 
either  foolish  or  disobedient,  and  therefore  I 
must  conclude  that  they  are  either  in  the  church 
already,  or  mean  to  connect  themselves  with  it 
at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

There  are,  however,  two  doors  by  which  men 
go  into  the  visible  Church,  the  door  of  self-in- 
terest and  the  door  of  consecration.  The  great 
majority  of  those  who  enter  the  church  go  in  by 
the  door  of  self-interest.  The  great  majority  of 
those  who  begin  the  Christian  life  do  so  with 
the  hope  of  personal  advantage. 

Now  let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  am  not 
saying  that  most  of  our  church  members  joined 
the  church  for  the  sake  of  increasing  their  busi- 
ness, nor  for  the  sake  of  securing  a  better  social 
3 


50  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

position.  Such  an  accusation  would  be  a  slan- 
der. The  number  of  those  who  seek  admission 
to  our  churches  simply  or  mainly  in  view  of 
zi'orldly  advantages  that  may  accrue  to  them  in 
the  relation,  is,  I  believe,  very  small.  The  selfi 
interest  which  is  the  ruling  motive  at  the  begin- 
ning of  most  Christian  lives,  is  of  a  much  higher 
and  worthier  type.  The  advantage  sought  is 
not  carnal  but  moral  and  spiritual.  The  man 
enters  the  church  because  he  expects  to  find  in 
its  fellowship  and  in  its  worship  a  help  in  over- 
coming sin  and  in  attaining  unto  virtue.  He 
goes  in  because  he  thinks  it  will  do  him  good, — • 
that  it  will  aid  him  in  securing  the  highest  good. 
Now  although  this  is  self-interest  of  a  very 
wholesome  sort,  it  is  still  self-interest.  The 
man's  main  concern  is  his  own  welfare ;  his 
thought  centres  on  himself. 

I  do  not  complain  that  men  go  into  the  church 
by  this  door.  I  am  glad  that  they  do.  I  wish 
that  this  kind  of  self-seeking  would  begin  to 
spread.  The  ambition  to  be  free  from  sin,  to 
build  up  a  perfect  character,  is  a  very  noble 
ambition — next  to  the  noblest.  And  if  any  one 
accepts  Christ  as  his  Saviour  from  sin,  and  seeks 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN  THE   CFIURCH.  5  I 

to  enter  Christ's  church  because  he  beHeves  that 
in  its  associations  and  its  services  he  will  obtain 
strength  for  his  warfare  with  the  evil,  and  his  pur- 
suit of  the  good,  he  ought  to  be  most  heartily 
welcomed.  If  he  is  sincere  and  earnest  in  his 
search  after  righteousness,  he  will  soon  make  the 
discovery  that  the  sin  from  which  he  is  seeking 
to  be  saved  is  in  its  essence  selfishness  ;  and  that 
the  way  to  be  rid  of  it  is  to  begin  to  think  less 
about  himself  and  more  about  others — *'  to  look 
out  and  not  in,  and  to  lend  a  hand." 

When  he  comes  to  that,  he  will  find  himself 
in  company  with  those  who  entered  the  church 
by  the  other  door — the  door  of  consecratioii ; 
whose  main  motive  in  seeking  admission  to  it  was 
not  the  hope  of  personal  advantage,  but  the 
desire  to  help  in  doing  the  Lord's  work.  There 
arc  church  members  who  came  in  by  that  door 
There  are  those  who,  at  the  first  surrender  of 
their  lives  to  Christ,  comprehended  his  saying : 
"  If  any  man  will  come  after  me  let  him  deny 
himself," — and  who  therefore  came  to  the  portals 
of  the  church,  seeking  not  to  be  ministered  unto 
but  to  minister. 

It  makes  a  world  of  difference  with  the  com- 


52  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

fort  and  the  usefulness  of  a  Christian  which  of 
these  motives  is  the  ruling  motive  in  his  life. 
The  man  who  is  seeking  his  own  welfare  as  the 
supreme  object  of  his  desire,  even  though  it  may 
be  his  spiritual  welfare  rather  than  his  temporal 
advantage  that  he  is  seeking — is  not  in  the  mood 
of  service.  It  is  vastly  better  that  he  should  be 
intent  on  this  higher  good,  than  that  he  should 
be  hungering  after  sensual  gratification  or  worldly 
gains  or  honors  ;  but  so  long  as  this  is  the  tem- 
per of  his  life  he  must  still  be  numbered  among 
those  who  seek  their  own  and  not  the  things 
which  are  Jesus  Christ's.  We  are  glad  to  have 
people  come  into  the  church  for  the  sake  of  the 
good  they  can^^//  but  they  area  much  less 
useful  and  a  much  more  troublesome  class  of 
church  members  than  those  who  come  in  for  the 
sake  of  the  good  they  can  do.  Just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  man's  thoughts  centre  upon  himself, 
and  upon  the  good  that  he  is  going  to  receive 
from  the  relation,  socially  or  spiritually,  will  he 
fail  to  get  what  he  is  looking  for.  Such  a  per- 
son is  very  liable  to  fall  into  a  discontented  and 
complaining  mood.  Ninety-nine  hundredths  of 
all  the  dissatisfaction  that  exists  among  church 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IX   THE   CHURCH.  53 

members  grows  out  of  some  real  or  imagined 
neglect  on  the  part  of  somebody  to  minister  to 
their  selfhood. 

It  is  said,  and  some  of  us  have  reason  to 
know  that  it  is  true,  that  great  advantages  of  a 
moral  and  spiritual  nature  come  to  us  through 
the  family  relation.  That  in  these  dear  intima- 
cies of  the  home  our  characters  are  purified,  and 
our  whole  natures  ennobled,  who  does  not  be- 
lieve? But  in  order  that  this  result  may  be 
reahzed,  it  is  necessary  that  we  enter  into  this 
relation  with  the  disposition  and  the  purpose  of 
self-forgetfulness.  Suppose  that  each  member 
of  the  hou^sehold  is  all  the  while  looking  out  for 
his  own  comfort  or  benefit ;  all  the  while  keep- 
ing watch  to  see  how  much  he  is  going  to  be 
waited  on  and  petted ;  how  much  he  is  going 
to  be  improved  in  his  temper  and  his  morals ; 
whether  the  net  result  of  this  association  is 
going  to  be  on  the  side  of  profit  or  loss  in  his 
personal  account — what  sort  of  a  home  would 
that  be  ?  Does  not  every  body  know  that  it 
could  only  be  a  cage  of  discords  and  alienations? 
Is  it  not  the  plainest  truth  that  the  law  of  Christ 
which  bids  us  bear  one  another's  burdens,  which 


54  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

commands  us  to  look  not  every  one  on  his  own 
things  but  also  on  the  things  of  others,  is  the 
only  law  by  which  family  hfe  can  be  made  en- 
durable? And  is  it  not  the  experience  of  those 
who,  in  the  household,  have  faithfully  tried  to 
put  this  law  in  practice,  that  there  is  no  happi- 
ness to  be  compared  with  that  which  grows  out 
of  the  sweet  accord,  the  sacred  fellowship  and 
the  loving  ministry  of  the  Christian  home  ?  Well 
Christ's  law  applies  to  his  church,  quite  as  truly 
as  to  out  families ;  and  it  is  quite  as  impossible  for 
one  to  derive  the  highest  good  from  his  associa- 
tion with  the  church  if  his  supreme  thought  is 
of  his  own  welfare,  as  it  would  be  to  find  profit 
in  the  family  life  with  that  spirit  ruling  him. 

While,  therefore,  I  am  glad  to  have  people 
come  into  the  church  by  the  door  of  self-interest, 
I  know  that  they  will  be  neither  happy  nor  useful 
there  very  long,  if  they  do  not  rise  to  a  higher 
plane  of  action,  and  begin  to  work  not  for  their 
own  welfare  but  for  the  good  of  others.  And 
by  whichever  door  you  went  in,  you  ought  not 
to  stop  till  you  find  yourselves  in  company  with 
those  who  went  in  by  the  door  of  consecration, 
and  who  are  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  God, 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   THE   CHURCH.  55 

rather  than  to  read  their  own  titles  clear  to  man- 
sions in  the  skies.  You  will  not  be  of  much  use 
anywhere  till  you  have  discovered  that  you  are 
not  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  that  you  are 
the  servant  of  one  who  "  died  for  all  that  they 
which  live  should  not  henceforth  live  unto  them- 
selves." Those  members  of  the  church  that  are 
governed  by  this  spirit  never  have  any  discon- 
tents to  ventilate;  never  complain  of  neglect; 
never  fail  to  find  plenty  of  appreciation.  Their 
concern  is  not  how  much  they  are  going  to  draw 
out  of  the  joint  stock  of  good  will  and  helpful 
fellowship  week  by  week,  but  how  much  they 
will  be  able  to  put  in.  If  they  are  troubled 
about  anything  it  is  not  that  they  receive  less 
than  they  should  of  notice  and  consideration, 
but  that  they  give  less  than  they  would  of  ser- 
vice and  brotherly  kindness. 

This,  then,  is  the  spirit  by  which  every 
Christian  ought  to  be  governed  in  his  relation 
to  the  church,  because  this  is  the  spirit  of 
Christ.  And  if  this  is  your  spirit  it  will  be  easy 
for  you  to  learn  to  do  the  work  to  which  the 
church  calls  all  its  members. 

In    the    first    place,   you    will    not   wait    for 


$6  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

somebody  to  go  after  you  and  beseech  you  to 
lend  your  aid  ;  you  will  go  yourself  and  ask  for 
work.  '*  Here  am  I  ;  send  me  !  "  will  be  your 
prompt  answer  to  that  call  for  laborers  which 
does  not  need  to  be  spoken,  because  it  rings  in 
all  our  ears  continually.  Go  right  to  your  min- 
ister or  your  Sunday  School  Superintendent  and 
tell  him  you  want  something  to  do.  It  may 
take  his  breath  away  the  first  time,  for  such  ap- 
plications are  not  near  so  frequent  as  the  ring 
of  the  tramp  at  the  basement  door  bell ;  but 
never  mind !  if  you  break  it  gently  to  him,  he 
will  bear  up  under  it,  probably,  and  perhaps, 
after  several  experiences  of  this  sort,  he  may 
even  come  to  enjoy  it.  At  any  rate,  I  am  ver> 
sure  that  he  will  be  able  to  find  some  service 
for  you.  And  why,  I  beg  to  know,  is  it  not 
your  duty  to  ask  for  it,  instead  of  waiting  to  be 
urged  to  undertake  it?  Suppose  that  some 
terrible  accident  occurs  and  scores  of  wounded 
and  needy  sufferers  are  thrown  upon  the  care  of 
the  public.  Immediately  methods  of  rehef  are 
organized  ;  by  general  consent  somebody  takes 
charge  of  the  work,  and  gives  direction  how  it 
must  be  done.     The  sufferers  are  at  your  doors 


THE  CHRISTIAN   IN  THE  CHURCH.  57 

in  perishing  need  of  immediate  attention.  It  is 
nobody's  official  duty  to  take  care  of  them  ;  it 
is  simply  the  obligation  of  charity,  and  it  rests 
on  all  alike*  What  will  you  all  do  now  ?  Will 
you  sit  still  in  your  houses  and  wait  to  be  sent 
for,  or  will  you  volunteer  ?  What  would  be  the 
dictate  of  simple  humanity  ?  What  would  you 
think  of  the  man  who  excused  himself  for  neg- 
lecting to  do  anything  for  these  sufferers  on  the 
ground  that  nobody  had  asked  him  to  do  any 
thing?  Now  the  need  of  Christian  work  in  con- 
nection with  all  our  churches  is  really  just  as 
immediate  and  just  as  urgent,  as  the  need  ot 
charitable  work  in  such  a  case.  It  does  not 
address  itself  quite  so  palpably  to  our  senses, 
but  it  is  none  the  less  a  crying  need.  The 
harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are 
few.  And  no  one  who  has  any  adequate  idea 
of  the  urgency  of  this  work,  or  of  the  spirit  in 
which  it  ought  to  be  prosecuted,  will  wait  to  be 
urged  to  enter  upon  it. 

Ask  for  work,  then.     Wherever  you  may  be 
sojourning,  with  whatever  church  you  may  be 
worshipping,  report  for  duty.     Go  right  to  head- 
quarters  and   say :   "  Here   I   am !  I   have   no 
3* 


58  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

boasts  to  utter  about  my  own  capacity,  but  such 
gifts  as  I  have  I  want  to  make  the  most  of. 
Use  me.  Jud^;e  for  yourself  what  I  am  good 
for  and  set  me  at  it ;  I'll  do  my  level  best,  what 
ever  it  is.  If  you  find  that  I  don't  succeed  in 
it,  and  that  somebody  else  would  do  better,  then 
put  somebody  else  in  my  place,  and  give  me 
something  that  I  can  do.  I  don't  want  the  best 
place  nor  the  easiest  place  ;  I  want  the  place 
where  I  can  do  the  most  good,  and  I  want  you 
to  judge  where  that  is." 

That,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  spirit  in  which 
the  church  member  ought  to  approach  church 
work.  He  ought  to  accept  every  service  as- 
signed to  him,  if  it  be  at  all  possible  for  him 
to  perform  it,  and  he  ought  to  discharge  its 
duties  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  He  ought 
not  to  suppose  that  his  pastor  or  the  leaders 
of  church  work  are  so  insincere  as  to  assign 
him  to  a  service  which  they  do  not  want 
him  to  perform,  or  which  they  do  not  think 
him  capable  of  performing ;  and  their  judg- 
ment as  to  the  best  man  for  the  work  is 
probably  quite  as  good  as  his.  Let  him  take 
up     the     duty     therefore     cheerfully,     and     do 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   THE   CHURCH.  59 

his  best  to  justify  the  confidence  reposed 
in  him. 

Not  seldom  service  is  refused  on  the  plea  ot 
incompetency.  It  is  a  plea  that  a  soldier  never 
thinks  of  making,  and  that  a  Christian  ought  to 
be  ashamed  to  make.  If  you  cannot  stand  at 
the  post  assigned  you,  you  can  fall  there. 

Laziness  and  faithlessness  go  stalking  abroad 
in  all  our  churches  under  the  garb  of  modesty. 
It  sounds  a  great  deal  better  to  say  *'  I  am  not 
capable,"  than  to  say  ''  I  am  too  indoleiit,"  or 
*'  My  heart  is  too  full  of  other  interests."  If  you 
are  the  willing  worker  that  you  ought  to  be  you 
will  have  nQ  occasion  to  resort  to  any  of  these 
small  hypocrisies. 

Don't  be  numbered  among  the  decliners. 
Some  of  the  religious  teachers  say  that  this  is 
an  age  of  declension.  However  this  may  be  I 
am  sure  that  it  is  a  declining  age. 

Of  all  things  doleful  in  speech  or  sign 
This  is  the  dolefuUest  "  I  decline  ! " 

After  one  has  heard  that  said  four  or  five 
times  in  the  course  of  one  meeting,  he  wants  to 
go  home.     Don't  say  it.     Unless  it  is  an  absolute 


6o  THE  CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

impossibility,  accept,  cheerfully,  every  position 
to  which  you  are  chosen. 

Some  one  has  said  that  the  whole  human 
race  may  be  divided  into  two  classes, — those 
who  will  serve  on  comm.ittees  and  those  who 
will  not.  The  first  class  will  because  they  say 
"  somebody  must ;  "  the  second  class  won't  be- 
cause they  say  "  somebody  will."  Be  sure  and 
belong  to  the  first  class. 

Do  not,  however,  always  wait  to  be  assigned 
to  service.  There  are  certain  services  to  which 
you  may  assign  yourself.  A  recruiting  officer 
in  Christ's  army  requires  no  commission.  The 
work  of  gathering  in  them  that  are  without  is 
one  of  the  most  important  kinds  of  work,  and 
that  is  best  done  without  definite  plan,  a^  oppor- 
tunity offers.  When  you  meet  those  who  have 
tio  regular  place  of  worship  ask  them  to  come  to 
church  with  you.  Tell  them  that  you  will  wait 
for  them  at  the  door,  and  see  that  they  are  pro- 
vided with  a  seat.  Make  them  feel  that  they 
will  be  welcome  if  they  come,  and  when  they 
come,  make  them  feel  that  they  are  welcome. 
Have  this  word  of  invitation  always  in  your 
mind  and  lose  no  opportunity  of  speaking  it. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN  THE   CHURCH.  6l 

Men  are  not  saved  by  going  to  church,  but  go- 
ing to  church  is  a  means  of  grace,  and  it  is  a 
most  useful  work  to  bring  those  who  now  neg- 
lect it  to  avail  themselves  of  it.  Recruit  for  the 
Sunday  school  and  the  prayer-meeting  also.  If 
you  attend  a  good  meeting,  remember  it  and 
mention  it  to  those  who  were  not  there.  If 
they  see  that  these  social  services  have  kindled 
a  flame  of  sacred  love  in  your  heart,  perhaps 
they  will  want  to  come  and  warm  themselves  by 
the  same  fire. 

Of  course  this  implies  that  you  will  attend 
yourself  upon  these  services.  By  your  constant 
presence,  you  will  do  what  you  can  to  sustain 
them.  They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  are 
counted.  That  is  sometimes  a  most  momen- 
tous duty.  And  they  who  can  always  answer 
'*  Here  "  when  the  roll  of  the  battalion  is  called, 
are  in  that  very  act  most  useful  helpers.  Con- 
cerning your  active  participation  in  these  services 
I  shall  have  something  to  say  hereafter.  J  only 
wish  now  to  urge  the  importance  of  giving  them 
your  countenance — not  metaphorically,  but  liter- 
ally. There  are  a  great  many  little  services  that 
p/^ed  to  be  performed  in  connection  with  every 


62  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

church,  services  which  fall  to  nobody  in  partic- 
ular and  which  will  be  neglected  unless  there 
be  vigilant  eyes  to  look  out  for  them  and  will- 
ing hands  to  undertake  them.  There  is  a  good 
deal  of  business  to  be  done  which  is  every- 
body's business.  You  know  what  the  proverb 
is.  Let  me  suggest  to  you  a  better  reading: 
What  is  everybody's  business  is  nobody's,  and 
what  is  nobody's  business  is  mine.  Look  after 
the  little  duties  that  other  people  are  likely  to 
neglect. 

There  is  one  other  work  which  you  may 
safely  assign  yourself.  That  is  the  work  of  pro- 
moting acquaintance  and  good  fellowship  in 
the  congregation  to  which  you  belong.  Appoint 
yourself  a  member  of  the  welcome  committee. 
Make  it  a  point  to  speak  a  polite  and  pleasant 
word  not  only  to  those  who  worship  regularly 
with  you,  but  to  occasional  visitors  and  especially 
to  strangers. 

'*  James  a  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  to  the  twelve  tribes  which  are  scat- 
tered abroad  greeting^  That  is  the  way  the 
grand  old  apostle  begins  his  encyclical  letter. 
Thank  God  for  James  and  the  first  verse  of  his 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   THE   CHURCH.  6^ 

epistle  !  Get  it  by  heart  and  carry  it  in  the  grip 
of  your  hand  and  the  look  of  your  face  wherever 
you  go,  but  especially  when  you  go  to  church ! 

My  friends,  that  is  a  noble  and  inspiring  ser- 
vice to  which  we  are  called  by  the  church  to 
which  we  belong.  To  build  it  up  and  strengthen 
it ;  to  beautify  not  only  the  place  of  God's 
sanctuary  but  also  the  spiritual  house  of  which 
it  is  the  shelter ;  to  labor  in  season  and  out  of 
season  to  make  the  church  that  is  precious  to 
God  honorable  in  the  sight  of  men, — this  is  a 
work  that  may  well  call  forth  the  enthusiasm  of 
every  man  to  whom  the  highest  things  are  dear. 
There  is  no  kind  of  labor  in  which  we  can  engage 
whose  result  will  last  so  long,  and  tell  so  power- 
fully on  the  good  of  those  who  shall  come  after 
us,  as  that  which  we  give  to  the  edifying  of  the 
body  of  Christ. 

The  collegians  going  forth  from  the  halls  of 
their  Alma  Mater,  plant — each  class  of  them-  -a 
vine  that  shall  climb  upon  the  walls  and  clothe 
them  with  greenness  in  the  summer,  and  with 
purple  robes  in  the  autumn,  so  that  hie,  tarrying 
after  they  ase  gone  and  building  for  them  shall 
help  to  decorate  the  places  that  have  grown  so 


64  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

dear.  Let  it  be  ours,  my  friends,  to  plant  some 
seed  of  truth,  or  some  germ  of  love,  that  shall 
live  and  grow  after  we  have  gone,  rising  from 
the  foundations  of  that  spiritual  house  which  i^ 
our  home,  entwining  itself  through  all  its  sacred 
forms,  through  all  its  solemn  ministries,  and 
helping  to  clothe  it  with  beauty  and  with  glory 
in  the  centuries  to  come. 


IV. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  AS  A  WITNESS. 

We  have  had,  of  late,  a  good  deal  of  talk 
against  talk.  Carlyle,  himself  an  everlasting 
talker,  set  the  fashion  of  denouncing  talk  ;  anu 
all  the  glib  little  fellows  who  have  nothing  to  saj 
have  been  swift  to  follow  it.  When  there  is  noth- 
ing else  to  ridicule,  a  tirade  against  talk  is  in  order. 
Doesn't  it  ever  occur  to  these  people  that  the 
evil,  if  evil  it  be,  is  not  mended  by  increasing  it  ? 
that  you  do  not  cause  the  flood  to  abate  by 
emptying  your  own  dipperful  into  its  swollen 
current  ? 

Let  us  have  this  topic  treated   with  a  little 
discrimination.     The  cant   about   silence    is   as 
offensive  as  any  other  kind  of  cant.     There  is  a 
time   to  keep   silence,   doubtless  ;   and  there   is ' 
also  a  time  to  speak. 

Of  insincere  talk  there  is  reason  enough  to 
complain.     When  a  man  speaks  what  he  does 


66  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

not  believe,  when  his  acts  steadily  belie  his 
words,  we  may  well  refuse  to  hear  him.  Against 
foolish  talk,  random  talk,  talk  that  expresses  no 
careful  thought,  we  may  also  wisely  protest.  It 
is  fair  to  demand  that  he  who  speaks  shall  have 
something  to  say. 

No  one  can  deny  that  the  gift  of  speech  is 
easily  and  frequently  abused.  The  best  gifts 
are  the  most  liable  to  abuse.  But  to  disparage 
speech  is  to  set  at  nought  one  of  the  crowning 
distinctions  between  man  and  the  lower  animals, 
to  make  light  of  the  noblest  faculty  that  God 
has  given  to  men.  And,  after  all  this  cant  about 
silence,  it  remains  true  that  speech  furnishes  the 
vehicle  by  which  thought  travels,  the  wings  by 
which  love  flies.  Is  not  the  sword  of  the  spirit 
*^  tke  word  of  God?"  *' Talking!" — says  one, 
**  it  is  the  only  force  that  moves  the  world. 
Voting  changes  no  opinions — it  only  records 
them.  It  is  talking  and  nothing  else — the  mere 
foolishness  of  preaching,  that  makes  up  the 
skirmishes  and  the  battles  of  our  crusades  of 
politics  and  science  and  morals  and  religion." 

Of  what  are  our  Congresses  of  natural  and 
social  science,  our  educational  conventions,  and 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AS   A   WITNESS.  6^ 

boards  of  trade,  made  up,  if  not  of  talk? 
What  is  the  work  of  the  teacher,  if  it  is  not 
talking?  And  even  in  the  household  how  large 
a  part  of  the  best  training  is  accomplished 
through  the  agency  of  judicious  and  well-chosen 
words.  Here,  of  course,  more  than  almost  any- 
where else,  the  words  of  the  parent  must  be  en- 
forced by  his  life  ;  yet  there  is  need  of  line  upon 
line  and  precept  upon  precept  in  order  that  the 
laws  of  good  conduct  may  be  impressed  upon 
the  memories  of  our  children. 

Now  the  work  of  Christ  in  the  world,  which 
we  as  Christians  are  called  to  do,  is  done  not  by 
the  neglect,  but  by  the  use  of  this  instrument  of 
speech.  It  is  not  all  done  by  talking,  as  1  have 
already  tried  to  show,  but  the  emphasis  which  is 
put  upon  preaching  in  the  injunctions  of  Christ 
to  his  disciples,  and  in  the  whole  of  the  New 
Testament,  makes  it  plain  that  a  very  large  part 
of  it  is  done  in  this  way.  But  preaching,  in  the 
New  Testament  sense  of  the  word,  is  not  al- 
ways the  formal  delivery  of  truth  by  an  oratoi 
to  a  congregation  ;  it  is  any  utterance,  no  mattei 
how  familiar  or  conversational,  by  which  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel  is  communicated.    Two  mcD 


6S  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

are  riding  together  along  a  desert  road  in  3 
wagon,  and  one  of  them  is  said  to  preach  to 
the  other.  ''  Daily  in  the  temple  and  in  every 
housey'  the  historian  of  the  Acts  tells  us^  the  dis- 
ciples "  ceased  not  to  teach  and  to  preach  Jesus 
Christ."  I  do  not  suppose  that  Philip,  when  he 
preached  to  the  eunuch,  or  that  the  apostles 
when  they  preached  from  house  to  house  in  Je- 
rusalem, laid  out  their  discourses  with  a  firstly 
and  a  secondly  and  a  thirdly,  or  that  they  raised 
their  voices  in  a  preaching  tone,  or  that  they 
held  forth  solemnly  while  their  auditor  or  audi 
tors  listened  silently.  It  was  not  always  mon* 
ologue,  when  Christ  and  his  apostles  preached  ; 
it  was  often  dialogue.  Talk  as  well  as  speech- 
making  comes  under  the  head  of  preaching. 
And  indeed,  the  best  kind  of  speech-making,  as 
we  are  beginning  to  learn,  is  that  which,  by  its 
natural  and  familiar  style,  most  closely  resem- 
bles talk. 

It  is  highly  important,  then,  that  the  young 
Christian  learn  to  talk  well.  That  is  an  art 
which  he  is  bound  to  cultivate,  the  art  of  ex- 
pression. Let  him  not  be  misled  by  the  prat- 
ing against  talk  of  a  few  garrulous  people  who 


THE   CIIRISriAN   AS   A   WITNESS.  69 

tliemsclvcs  want  to  make  all  the  noise.  The 
confession  by  the  mouth  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
Saviour,  the  testimony  of  the  lips  to  the  truth  of 
bis  gospel,  the  utterance  in  words  of  the  call  to 
the  heavenly  life,  are  not  matters  of  no  conse- 
quence, nor  are  they  duties  that  can  be  wholly 
done  by  the  ministers  and  the  deacons,  or  the 
college-taught  people  in  the  churches.  ''Let 
him  that  heareth "  not  only  come  but  ""say 
Come !" 

Paul  gave  thanks  for  the  Corinthian  Chris- 
tians, not  for  the  ministers  but  for  the  people, 
that  in  everything  they  were  enriched  by  Jesus 
Christ,  in  all  utterance^  as  well  as  in  all  knowl- 
edge. It  is  not  less  a  matter  of  congratulation 
in  these  days  when  Christians  learn  to  use  the 
gift  of  speech  wisely  and  well. 

By  the  use  of  speech  truth  is  imparted,  but 
that  is  only  one  of  the  benefits  that  flow  from  it. 
By  the  use  of  speech  our  own  ideas  are  cleared 
and  sharpened.  No  man  knows  anything  very 
well  till  he  has  tried  to  express  it.  Every  school- 
master will  testify  that  he  has  learned  more 
about  the  sciences  in  which  he  gives  instruction 
by  teaching  them  to  others  than  by  studying 


70  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

them  for  himself.  The  best  way  to  make  a 
thing  plain  to  your  own  mind  is  to  explain  it  to 
somebody  else.  Action  and  reaction  are  equal, 
and  therefore  expression  is  balanced  by  impres- 
sion. In  all  mental  commerce  it  is  better  to 
give  than  to  receive,  because  one  gains  in  giving 
more  than  in  receiving.  The  very  effort  to  put 
your  thought  about  religious  truth  and  the  re- 
ligious life  into  intelligible  words  must,  then, 
have  the  effect  to  strengthen  your  possession  of 
that  truth  and  your  hold  upon  that  life. 

Moreover  your  ideas  will  be  likely  to  under- 
go revision  if  you  speak  them  out.  Not  unlike- 
ly some  of  them  are  wrong.  When  you  utter 
them  in  conversation,  the  questions  with  which 
they  may  be  met  and  the  doubts  that  may  be 
expressed  about  them  will  perhaps  result  in  cor- 
recting them.  Talking  implies  listening.  He 
who  talks  well  receives  as  well  as  imparts.  He 
may  not  gain  so  much  from  what  is  said  to  him 
as  from  what  he  himself  expresses ;  but  if  he  is 
candid  and  modest  he  can  hardly  help  learning 
something  in  every  conversation.  And  if  he  is 
able  to  express  his  own  thoughts  clearly,  those 
who  hear  will  almost  surely  be  stimulated  to  re- 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AS   A   WITNESS.  7I 

plies  that  will  throw  light  upon  the  subject  of 
which  he  speaks.  "He  that  watereth  shall  be 
watered  also  himself."  Not  only  correction  of 
error,  but  also  mental  and  spiritual  enlargement 
and  inspiration  are  to  be  gained  in  conversation 

As  a  means  of  culture,  then,  and  also  as  a 
means  of  usefulness,  the  Christian  is  bo.und  to 
exercise  his  gift  of  speech.  A  large  part  of  the 
good  that  we  receive  will  come  through  talk  ; 
much  of  the  good  that  we  do  will  be  done  through 
talk.  Much  of  it,  I  say  ;  not  all  of  it,  not  most 
of  it,  but  much  of  it.  We  have  a  right  to  be 
impatient  with  those  people  who  seem  to  think 
that  talk  is,the  panacea  for  all  the  ills  of  life,  that 
there  is  no  other  kind  of  Christian  work  except 
speech-making ;  but  when  we  refuse  to  accept 
these  extravagant  notions,  we  need  not  deny  that 
speech  is  one  of  the  weightiest  instruments  in 
the  propagation  of  truth ;  we  need  not  neglect 
the  duty  of  keeping  this  instrument  in  order  for 
effective  service. 

In  order  that  one  may  talk  usefully,  it  is 
highly  important  that  one  should  know  some- 
thing. The  graces  of  speech  are  barren  when 
divorced  from    the  gifts   of  knowledge.      Meie 


THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 


elegances  of  diction  are  of  small  account ;  a  fault- 
less pronunciation  and  an  absolute  accuracy  of 
grammatical  construction  only  make  the  speech 
that  co.nes  from  an  empty  head  sound  all  the 
more  hollow.  If  the  speaker  only  know  some- 
thing ;  if  by  his  study  of  the  Word,  and  of  him- 
self, and  of  nature  and  of  society,  and  of  God's 
providential  order,  he  have  learned  something  of 
the  nature  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  some- 
thing of  those  deep  mysteries  that  unfold  them- 
selves only  to  the  humble  and  thoughtful  student 
of  divine  truth,  then,  no  matter  though  his  sen- 
tences may  be  rudely  constructed,  and  his  words 
barbarously  pronounced,  we  may  sit  at  his  feet 
as  delighted  and  profited  listeners.  I  do  not 
mean  that  there  is  any  merit  in  bad  grammar, 
— quite  the  contrary ;  but  the  defect  is  one  that 
can  far  more  easily  be  borne  than  a  lack  of  un- 
derstanding 

In  order  that  we  may  be  qualified  to  talk 
well  in  public  or  in  private  upon  religious 
subjects,  the  study  of  good  books  is  a  great 
help,  and  none  of  us  can  afford  to  neglect 
it.  Some  underwise  people,  ministers  even, 
affect    to   despise   the   knowledge   that    comes 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AS  A   WITNESS.  J^ 

through  books,  and  pretend  to  draw  all  their 
inspirations  from  the  incidents  and  associations 
of  common  life  ;  but  a  mere  horse-car  or  ferry- 
boat culture  is  not  apt  to  be  very  exalted,  and 
the  sermons  of  the  preacher  who  never  reads  are 
Hkely  to  be  more  sensational  than  stimulating. 
What  the  minister  needs  is  needed  also,  in  some 
less  degree,  by  every  layman  who  wants  to  be 
useful.  The  best  minds  of  the  ages  have  left  for 
us  their  legacies  of  priceless  wisdom  in  the  books 
that  they  have  written ;  guidance  and  comfort 
are  in  the  words  that  hold  the  results  of  their 
experience,  and  we  are  not  wise  if  we  refuse  the 
counsel  and  support  bequeathed  to  us.  I  find 
a  few  friends  wherever  I  go,  whose  wide  experi- 
ence and  clear  insight  and  commanding  convic- 
tions make  me  a  large  debtor  whenever  I  talk 
with  them  ;  but  in  my  study  any  day  I  can  sit 
down  with  Pascal,  or  with  Coleridge,  or  with 
Dr.  Arnold,  or  with  Robertson,  or  with  Bush- 
:iell ;  I  can  have  him  all  to  myself,  in  silence ; 
I  can  commune  with  him  more  perfectly  and 
with  larger  gains  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  than 
I  could  hope  to  receive  in  any  oral  intercourse 
with  any  man,  and  when  the  interview  is  ended, 
4 


74  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

I  feel  that  I  have  been  lifted  on  the  wings  of 
a  mighty  spirit  up  to  heights  where  the  out- 
look is  wider  than  that  of  my  daily  path  in  life, 
and  the  air  is  purer  than  that  which  I  breathe  in 
the  market-place.  Such  a  season  of  communion 
with  a  great  soul  always  gives  me  something  to 
think  about,  and  something  to  talk  about.  I  do 
not  despise  the  light  that  I  find  on  lowly  ways  ; 
the  stimulus  and  help  that  come  to  me  in  con- 
versations with  those  who  have  written  no  books, 
but  whose  lives  are  full  of  the  fruits  of  a  sweet 
and  sincere  piety ;  one  needs  both  kinds  of 
knowledge,  that  which  is  gained  from  books  and 
that  which  is  gained  in  daily  life  ;  intercourse 
with  common  people  and  with  uncommon  peo- 
ple. I  only  desire  to  insist  that  for  all  of  us  who 
desire  to  qualify  ourselves  to  be  useful,  this 
means  of  improvement  is  open  ;  and  that  while, 
:>n  account  of  the  burden  of  daily  cares,  many 
are  not  able  to  read  as  much  as  they  would  like 
tc  read,  there  are  yet  odd  moments  in  the  busi- 
est lives  that  can  be  put  to  good  use  in  this  way. 
Thus  by  our  communion  with  the  wise  and  the 
good,  we  may  get  wisdom  and  understanding 
that  shall  qualify   us  to  speak  acceptable  words, 


THE   CHRISTIAN  AS  A   WITNESS.  75 

when  we  sit  in  the  house,  when  we  walk  by  the 
way,  and  when  we  stand  up  in  the  assembly  of 
worshippers  to  bear  witness  of  the  truth. 

I  have  not  spoken  of  the  study  of  the  Bible, 
as  a  means  whereby  we  may  prepare  ourselves 
to  talk  of  things  divine,  because  I  desire  to  de- 
vote part  of  another  chapter  to  the  uses  of  this 
holy  Book.  But  it  is  evident  that  all  that  has 
been  said  concerning  the  value  of  good  books 
applies  with  greatly  added  force  to  the  Bible, 
which  is  the  best  of  books.  None  of  us  can  ex- 
pect to  speak  wisely  or  convincingly  of  things 
divine  if  we  neglect  the  sacred  oracles. 

It  is  not,  however,  wholly  by  the  reading  of 
good  books,  not  even  by  the  study  of  the  Bible, 
that  we  perfect  ourselves  in  the  Christian  art  of 
talking.  We  must  think,  as  well  as  read.  We 
must  meditate  on  what  we  read,  and  what  we 
hear,  and  what  we  see.  We  must  try  to  apply 
these  truths  of  religion  to  life  as  we  witness  it, 
and  as  we  are  living  it ;  to  work  out  the  prob> 
lems  of  grace  in  our  daily  experience,  and  obser- 
vation. There  is  time  for  most  of  us  to  do  a 
good  deal  of  honest  thinking  about  religious 
truth.     Many  ol  those  who  cannot  read  much 


'j6  THE  CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

have  plenty  of  time  to  think.  And  they  who 
read  a  httle  and  think  much  are  often  wiser  than 
they  who  read  much  and  think  but  little.  What 
we  all  need,  in  order  to  qualify  us  to  speak  un- 
derstandingly  and  forcibly  about  these  themes, 
is  daily  meditation  upon  them.  The  reason 
why  many  of  us  cannot  speak  on  religious  sub- 
jects, or  can  only  speak  drily  and  clumsily,  is 
that  we  do  not  think  much  about  them.  We 
should  not  find  it  easy  to  talk  about  politics  if 
we  thought  no  more  about  politics  than  we  do 
about  religion.  We  should  not  find  it  hard  to 
talk  about  religion  if  we  thought  as  much  about 
religion  as  we  do  about  politics. 

Add  to  meditation  practice.  He  who  lives 
well  can  generally  talk  well.  Even  if  he  does 
not  say  much,  what  he  does  say  means  a  great 
deal.  The  reduction  of  these  truths  of  religion 
to  the  terms  of  daily  life  puts  us  into  such 
thorough  possession  of  them  that  when  we 
speak  our  words  like  our  Master's  in  some 
smaller  measure  are  spirit  and  life  ;  and  we  are 
listened  to  as  those  having  authority  and  not  as 
the  scribes. 

When  you   have  thus  by  study,  by  medita- 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AS  A   WITxXESS.  77 

tion,  by  consistent  practice,  got  something  to 
say  and  a  right  to  say  it,  then  open  your  Anouth 
and  speak.  You  need  not  wait  until  you  have 
read  ail  the  books,  or  until  you  have  thought 
over  all  possible  subjects  of  reflection,  or  until 
you  have  become  perfect  in  your  Christian  lives  ; 
but  while  you  study,  while  you  think,  while  you 
faithfully  live,  give  utterance  to  the  thought 
that  is  in  you.  Talk  about  religion.  Make  it  a 
common  and  a  familiar  topic.  Don't  be  afraid  to 
talk  about  it.  You  who  fear  the  Lord  speak  often 
one  to  another!  Do  not  lecture  one  another; 
do  not  preach  to  one  another;  but  converse 
about  the  religious  life,  as  you  are  endeavoring 
to  live  it  ;  about  your  own  experiences  in  apply- 
ing the  truth  of  the  New  Testament  to  your 
daily  conduct  ;  about  your  successes  and  your 
failures,  your  doubts  and  your  encouragements; 
your  hopes  and  your  fears.  Compare  notes. 
There  will  be  some  things  in  your  experience  of 
which  you  will  not  desire  to  speak  ;  of  which  you 
will  have  no  right  to  speak.  There  are  bounds 
of  reticence  that  must  not  be  transgressed. 
There  are  inner  struggles  through  which  we 
must  pass  with  no  counsel  and    no   sympathy 


THE   CHRISTIAN   W^Y. 


save  that  of  him  who  in  Gethsemane  agonized 
for  our  deliverance.  But  of  many  phases  of 
our  Christian  Hfe  we  may  freely  speak  to  our 
Christian  friends,  and  our  communion  with  them 
may  be  helpful  to  them  as  well  as  to  ourselves. 
Do  not  be  afraid  to  talk  about  religion  with 
those  who  are  not  Christians.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary, however,  for  you  to  lecture  them.  It  is 
not  best  to  go  at  them  in  a  formal,  official  sort 
of  way,  as  if  you  had  a  duty  to  discharge,  and 
felt  bound  to  do  it,  whether  they  liked  it  or  not. 
You  can  converse  on  the  subject  of  religion 
with  a  man  without  "giving  him  a  talking  to." 
That  is  what  few  of  us  enjoy,  be  the  subject 
what  it  may.  When  you  assume  by  your  air 
and  tone  that  you  are  in  some  sense  superior  to 
the  person  with  whom  you  are  conversing, — 
that  you  a  saint,  have  come  to  him  a  sinner,  to 
reclaim  him  from  the  error  of  his  ways,  you 
immediately  put  him  into  the  attitude  of  resist- 
ance. Of  course  you  do  not  feel  any  such  supe- 
riority, and  your  method  of  approach  should 
not  convey  such  an  impression.  Talk  with  him, 
not  to  him.  Draw  him  out.  Get  him  to  tell 
you  what  his  thoughts  of  the  religious  life  are, 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AS   A   WITNESS.  79 

(for  all  of  our  neighbors  have  thoughts  about 
it,)  and  what  his  purposes  and  experiments  have 
been  in  trying  to  live  religiously,  (for  there  are 
\  cry  few  who  have  not  at  some  time  in  their 
lives  tried  to  be  Christians.)  Perhaps  you  can 
help  him  out  of  his  difficulties  ;  if  you  cannot 
you  may  be  the  means  of  putting  him  into  com- 
munication with  some  one  who  can.  At  any 
rate  you  can  show  your  interest  in  him,  and 
your  desire  to  do  him  good,  and  you  can  make 
him  see  that  you  have  no  wish  to  dictate  to 
him,  or  to  exalt  yourself  above  him. 

You  must  not,  however,  be  obtrusive.  Do 
not  force  this  kind  of  conversation  at  unseemly 
times,  and  in  rude  ways. 

When  you  talk,  talk  naturally.  You  require 
no  holy  tones,  and  no  theologic  phrases.  There 
is  no  call  for  cant.  Be  cheerful  about  it.  Don't 
give  any  color  to  the  notion  that  religion  is  a 
gloomy  subject  ;  that  it  can  never  be  mentioned 
without  bringing  a  shadow  upon  the  face  and  a 
drone  into  the  voice.  Let  your  talk  be  talk, 
not  snuffling,  nor  wailing,  nor  maundering.  And 
if  with  a  hearty  good  will,  and  a  cheerful  confi- 
dence in  the  truth  of  what  you  are  saying,  you 


8o  THE   CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

thus  beside  all  waters  sow  the  seeds  of  truth 
divine,  doubtless  you  shall  come  again  with  re- 
joicing bringing  your  sheaves  with  you. 

But  there  is  need,  sometimes,  of  talk  in  pub- 
lic places,  in  prayer  and  conference  meetings, 
and  in  other  public  meetings  for  religious  pur- 
poses. If  these  social  religious  meetings  could 
be  made  less  formal  and  more  social,  so  that 
the  exercises  should  more  resemble  a  familiar 
but  decorous  conversation,  and  be  less  like  a 
series  of  set  speeches,  the  result,  I  am  sure, 
would  in  many  cases  be  beneficial.  If  each  per- 
son, male  or  female,  would  feel  free  without 
rising  to  put  in  a  sentence  or  two  pertinent  to 
the  theme  or  the  occasion,  our  conferences  would 
often  be  greatly  enriched.  Often,  the  substance 
of  what  one  has  to  say  is  summed  up  in  one  or 
two  sentences.  Amplification  only  weakens  it. 
Tersely  put  it  sticks  in  the  memory  and  quick- 
ens the  feeling.  If  we  could  have  more  of  these 
sententious  and  informal  utterances  our  meet- 
ings would  be  greatly  improved,  and  many  who 
now  shrink  from  participating  in  them  might  do 
so  with  profit  to  themselves  and  to  the  rest 
of  us. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AS  A   WITNESS.  8 1 

But  even  such  short  sayings  must  have 
thought  in  them  and  Hfe  behind  them.  Some 
preparation  is  necessary,  even  for  this  unpreten- 
tious service.  And  this  preparation  should  be 
carefully  made.  None  of  us  should  wait  until 
the  meeting,  and  then  expect  a  sudden  inspira- 
tion. Beaten  oil  in  the  sanctuary  makes  the 
flame  burn  brightly  ;  and  it  matters  not  whether 
the  candlestick  be  set  in  the  pulpit  or  in  the 
prayer-room.  I  believe  in  inspirations,  most 
heartily ;  but  I  believe  that  they  come  to  those 
who  work,  not  to  those  who  shirk.  When  I 
have  been  lazy  in  my  preparation  for  the  pulpit, 
then  I  cannpt  be  confident  that  the  Lord  will 
do  my  work  for  me ;  but  when  I  have  been  dili- 
gent in  making  ready  for  the  service  I  am  always 
sure  that  he  will  stand  by  me  and  help  me  to 
preach  his  word.  And  the  same  rule  must,  I 
am  sure,  hold  good  of  those  who  speak  in  the 
prayer-meetings.  We  do  not  need  to  prepare 
set  speeches — far  from  that  ;  but  we  do  need  to 
be  thinking  during  the  week  of  the  subject  of 
which  we  will  speak ;  of  the  truth  to  which  we 
will  bear  witness  ;  and  we  ought  to  be  in  readi- 
ness to  utter  it  clearly  and    promptly.     If  we 


82  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

can  condense  it  into  a  very  few  words,  so  much 
the  better. 

It  is  not,  however,  always  possible  to  reduce 
what  we  have  to  say  to  a  sentence.  Sometimes 
several  sentences  will  be  required  to  convey  our 
thought.  And  the  power  to  stand  on  his  feet 
and  utter  these  sentences  with  distinctness  is  one 
that  every  young  Christian  ought  to  cultivate. 
The  gifts  of  the  orator  are  not  for  all,  but  the 
ability  to  express,  with  clearness  and  simplicity, 
any  truth  that  we  may  happen  to  know,  may  be 
acquired  by  all  of  us.  It  is  harder  for  some  than 
for  others  to  gain  this  power,  but  it  is  not  be- 
yond the  reach  of  any.  Some  are  naturally  dif- 
fident ;  but  repeated  and  persistent  and  deter- 
mined effort,  with  faith  in  God's  help,  will  over- 
come this  diffidence.  First  be  sure  that  you 
have  something  to  say,  and  that  you  know  what 
that  something  is;  then  arise  and  say  it.  If 
what  you  are  trying  to  say  is  the  truth,  if  you 
liave  verified  it  in  your  experience,  then  it  is  a 
message  which  God  has  given  you,  and  no  doubt 
he  will  help  you  to  utter  it.  Believe  that  he 
will.  Expect  his  spirit  to  speak  through  you, 
and  be  not  dismayed  if  you  seem  to  fail  ;    for 


THE   CHRISTIAN   AS   A  WITNESS.  83 

the  broken  utterances  of  his  feeblest  children 
are  often  by  his  convincing  power  applied  to 
the  consciences  of  those  who  hear.  Even 
though  you  may  succeed  but  imperfectly  in 
giving  utterance  to  your  thought,  try  it  again, 
and  keep  trying  until  your  timidity  disappears, 
and  the  service  becomes  a  joy.  Make  ready, 
every  time,  the  word  that  you  will  utter,  pray 
every  time,  that  God  will  help  you  to  utter  it ; 
expect  always  his  presence  and  his  sustaining 
grace  and  you  will  gain,  at  length,  this  excellent 
gift  of  clear  and  helpful  speech. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  BUSINESS. 

I  ONCE  heard  a  man,  who  was  reputed  to  be 
a.  trickster  in  trade,  say  in  a  prayer  meeting,  that 
what  we  wanted  most  was  more  religion  in  our 
business.  Coming  from  such  a  man  I  confess 
that  the  utterance  somewhat  puzzled  me.  Two 
possible  explanations  suggested  themselves. 
One  was  that  the  speaker  was  unjustly  accused  of 
dishonesty — that  he  was  not  the  untruthful  and 
scheming  fellow  that  common  rumor  made  him 
out  to  be.  That  was  the  most  charitable,  and  I 
would  fain  hope,  the  most  credible  theory.  It 
might  be,  however,  that  by  carrying  our  religion 
into  our  business  this  man  meant  talking  religion 
in  business  hours  and  in  business  places,  rathei 
than  practicing  it  in  the  transactions  of  trade. 
It  might  be  that  his  idea  of  mixing  religion  with 
business  was  conversing  with  your  customers 
ovei   the  counter  in  a  confidential  manner  about 


THE  CHRISTIAN   IN   BUSINESS.  85 

their  souls  ;  keeping  the  Bible  n  the  money- 
drawer,  and  reading  a  verse  or  two  fronn  it  now 
and  then,  for  your  own  edification  or  for  the 
benefit  of  persons  happening  in  ;  putting  a  Httle 
Scripture  into  an  advertisement,  or  shpping  a 
tract  into  a  parcel  of  goods,  or  printing  a  text 
upon  the  envelope  in  which  you  send  out  your 
trade  circulars.  Some  such  methods  as  these 
might  have  been  in  his  mind  when  he  said  that 
we  wanted  more  religion  in  our  business.  His 
conscience  might  have  reproved  him  for  not  re- 
sorting to  these  evangelistic  devices  more  fre- 
quently in  connection  with  his  trade,  while  it  did 
not  at  all  4:rouble  him  on  account  of  any  lies  that 
he  might  have  told,  or  any  sharp  tricks  that  he 
might  have  played  upon  his  customers. 
*  It  is  a  melancholy  fact  that  there  are  a  good 
many  people  in  our  churches  whose  conscience 
is  of  just  this  quality.  It  is  punctilious  about 
deeds  of  piety,  it  is  careless  about  works  of 
righteousness.  I  do  not  say  that  such  people 
are  never  Christians  ;  sometimes  they  are,  no 
doubt ;  they  really  mean  to  do  right,  and  their 
failure  is  due  to  an  imperfect  education  more 
than  to    conscious   and    intentional   hypocrisy. 


86  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

Their  method  of  mixing  business  with  religion 
will  however,  scarcely  approve  itself  to  any  well 
instructed  conscience. 

I  do  not  say  that  a  business  man  should 
never  seize  upon  the  opportunities  that  come  to 
him  in  business  intercourse  of  speaking  on  the 
subject  of  personal  religion.  Such  occasions 
will  present  themselves,  and  he  who  is  ready  to 
do  good  to  all  men  as  he  has  opportunity  will 
not  neglect  them.  Ordinary  common  sense  will 
however,  suggest  one  or  two  maxims  that  may 
well  be  observed  by  those  who  undertake  to  do 
good  in  this  way.  The  first  is  that  the  merchant 
or  clerk  who  talks  religion  to  a  customer,  must 
be  sure  that  the  customer  has  entire  confidence 
in  his  integrity  as  a  man  of  business.  The  word 
of  exhortation  is  not  likely  to  be  mixed  with 
faith  in  them  that  hear  it,  if  it  is  spoken  by  the 
lips  of  one  to  whom  suspicions  of  sharp  practice 
have  somehow  attached  themselves. 

The  second  is,  that  the  imputation  of  making 
gain  of  godliness  ought  not  to  be  incurred.  If 
our  zeal  for  religion  has  the  appearance  of  being 
a  device  to  get  the  favor  of  a  certain  class  of  cus- 
tomers, it  will  do  more  harm  than  good. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   BUSINESS.  8/ 

On  the  whole,  therefore,  while  I  do  not  doubt 
that  it  may  sometimes  be  the  duty  of  the  busi- 
ness man  to  use  the  intercourse  between  himself 
and  his  customers  for  evanf^elistic  purposes,  it 
seems  to  me  that  there  are  other  ways  in  which 
a  Christian  man  may  more  successfully  introduce 
his  religion  into  his  business.  It  is  not  so  much 
by  making  the  store  or  the  office  or  the  shop  a 
preaching  place,  as  by  making  it  a  practicing 
place,  that  he  most  conclusively  proves  the 
gospel  true.  If  in  all  his  transaction::  the  fact 
appears  that  his  conduct  is  guided  by  strict 
integrity,  his  religion  will  get  abundant  honor. 

The  Christian  in  business  is,  then,  first  of  all, 
an  upright  man.  He  is  one  on  whose  word  all 
his  neighbors  unhesitatingly  depend  ;  he  is  one 
who  is  never  known  to  take  an  unfair  advantage 
in  a  bargain  ;  he  is  one  who  "  sweareth  to  his 
own  hurt  and  changeth  not."  The  Christian 
man  of  whom  this  can  be  said  wins  for  his  Mas- 
ter a  meed  of  respect  that  few  other  servants 
have  the  power  to  gain.  I  know  of  no  man 
who  wields  a  more  powerful  influence  than  the 
business  man  who  shows  that  his  religion  keeps 
nim  scrupulously  honest. 


88  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

The  young  Christian  who  has  devoted  his 
!ife  to  business  need  not  then  imagine  that  he 
has  chosen  a  calHng  in  which  the  opportunities 
of  usefuhiess  are  Hmited.  There  is  no  more  fruit- 
ful service  than  that  to  which  the  man  is  called 
who  practices  religion  in  the  midst  of  the  temp- 
tations of  trade. 

The  first  and  most  conspicuous  of  the  traits 
by  which  the  Christian  in  business  will  shine 
forth  as  a  light  is  truthfulness.  This  is  indeed, 
the  fundamental  virtue.  In  every  system  of 
morals,  in  every  estimate  of  character,  we  must 
put  truth  first.  Without  veracity  and  the  con- 
fidence which  rests  upon  it,  society  cannot  exist. 
That  is  the  fair  bond  by  which  the  social  order 
is  compacted.  ^'  Wherefore  putting  away  lying, 
speak  every  man  truth  with  his  neighbor,  for  we 
are  members  one  of  another."  Every  lie  that  is 
told  disturbs  the  security  of  the  neighborhood, 
and  weakens  the  foundations  of  the  state.  Every 
lie  that  is  told  hurts  not  only  the  man  that  tells 
it,  and  the  man  that  is  deceived  by  it,  but  ako 
the  whole  community ;  for  it  helps  to  impair  the 
confidence  of  men  in  one  another  ;  and  it  is  upon 
this  basis  of  confidence  that  our  civilization  rests. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   BUSINESS.  89 

Truthfulness,  I  say,  is  the  virtue  to  be  first 
cultivated  not  only  by  the  merchant,  but  by  the 
laborer,  the  mechanic,  the  professional  man 
Even  the  journalist  with  all  his  shining  traits  can 
well  afford  to  covet  this  best  gift.  The  professor 
of  theology,  the  minister  of  the  gospel,  who  dis- 
sembles or  prevaricates  in  the  execution  of  hia 
trust,  who  hides  the  truth  that  he  thinks,  and 
teaches  a  doctrine  that  he  does  not  believe  ; 
whose  words  flow  on  in  the  channels  of  tradition, 
while  his  convictions  have  made  for  themselves 
another  channel  out  of  sight,  is  surely  doing  all 
he  can  to  undermine  the  faith  of  men  not  only 
in  the  docti:ine  that  he  teaches  but  in  truth 
itself.  Such  insincerity  will  out.  It  cannot  be 
hid.  And  when  one  who  stands  to  unfold  the 
divine  oracles  is  found  to  be  paltering  with  words 
in  a  double  sense,  or  teaching  orthodoxy  with 
his  lips  while  his  thought  is  far  from  it,  a  terrible 
blow  is  dealt  at  the  very  foundations  of  faith  in 
the  hearts  of  men.  It  is  not  necessary  that  every 
crude  questioning,  every  undigested  speculation 
of  the  religious  teacher  should  be  spoken  forth  ; 
but  when,  after  fair  investigation,  he  reaches  any 
conclusion    respecting   religious  truth,  it   is  his 


90  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

duty  to  utter  it,  even  though  it  may  put  him  out 
of  sympathy  with  those  to  whom  he  ministers. 
*'  Between  us  be  truth,"  always  and  by  all  means. 
The  people  may  be  glad  to  have  their  minister 
agree  with  them,  but  they  will  not,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  be  so  base  as  to  demand  that  he  should 
pretend  to  agree  with  them  when  he  does  not. 
They  will  not  regard  the  teacher  who  insincerely 
speaks  their  thought  as  a  better  man  than  the 
one  who  sincerely  speaks  his  own.  They  will  not 
make  it  perilous  for  the  man  to  be  sincere,  by 
banishing  from  their  presence  all  who  do  not 
voice  their  convictions.  Disagreement  is  to  every 
honest  seeker  after  truth  an  evil  infinitely  less  to 
be  dreaded  than  deceit. 

I  have  dwelt  upon  the  need  of  truth  between 
the  teacher  and  the  taught,  because  the  depart- 
ment is  one  concerning  which  I  have  a  right  to 
speak.  But  I  cannot  see  why  the  obligation  of 
sincerity  does  not  rest  alike  upon  all  men  in  all 
callings.  Falsehood  is  the  fundamental  evil. 
The  Devil  is  the  father  of  lies.  His  kingdom 
rests  upon  deceit.  And  it  will  never  be  ovei- 
thrown  till  all  Christians  put  away  lying  utterly, 
and  speak  every  man  truth  with  his  neighbor. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   BUSINESS.  9I 

Veracity  is  no  more  necessary  in  commercial 
life  than  in  domestic  life  or  social  life,  but  it  is 
perhaps  more  difficult  to  practice  the  virtue  in 
trade  than  anywhere  else.  There  are  so  many 
motives  to  lie,  there  are  so  many  ways  of  lying, 
the  atmosphere  of  the  market  is  so  charged  with 
falsehood,  that  it  is  often  very  hard  to  tell  the 
exact  truth.  The  usages  and  traditions  of  trade 
in  many  quarters  are  such  that  one  who  under- 
takes to  be  truthful  will  find  himself  rowing  right 
against  the  current.  Not  seldom  the  question 
of  livelihood  will  be  raised  if  he  resists  the  bad 
practice. 

A  young  man  in  this  city  entered  a  dry  goods 
store  (not  now  open,  I  am  happy  to  say)  in  which 
a  bankrupt  stock  was  being  disposed  of.  But 
new  goods  were  constantly  added  to  the  bank- 
rupt stock,  and  one  of  the  tricks  of  the  establish- 
ment was  this.  The  new  goods  were  all  marked 
twice,  a  very  high  price  was  put  upon  the  tag 
with  ink;  then  that  was  marked  out  with  pencil, 
and  a  much  lower  figure  was  written  underneatlu 
The  customer  was  shown  this  tag  by  the  clerk 
who  was  required  to  say,  "  Here !  you  can  see 
what  Mr.  So  and  So  was  selling  these  goods  for 


92  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

and  what  a  reduction  we  have  made."  The 
young  man  did  not  think  this  method  of  doing 
business  exactly  honorable,  but  I  am  sorry  tc 
say  that  he  had  not  the  moral  courage  to  refuse 
to  do  it.  It  takes  some  moral  courage  to  do  just 
right  always  in  hard  times  like  these,  when  situa- 
tions are  not  plenty,  and  the  prospect  of  long 
idleness,  if  not  of  starvation,  opens  before  every 
man  who  loses  his  place.  Nevertheless,  the  case 
is  very  plain.  No  man  can  afford  to  lie.  That, 
in  the  long  run,  is  the  most  expensive  and  the 
most  ruinous  of  all  indulgences.  And  especially 
is  the  Christian  restrained  by  his  vows  of  allegi- 
ance to  Him  who  is  the  Truth,  from  such  base- 
ness. It  takes  some  moral  courage  to  tell  the 
truth,  but  I  should  think  that  it  would  require 
some  immoral  courage  in  a  Christian  man  to  lie, 
right  before  God  and  the  angel  that  is  writing  in 
the  book  of  life ;  right  under  the  sad  reproving 
look  of  Him  who  came  to  bear  witness  to  the 
truth,  and  who  cannot,  surely,  witness  without 
pain  the  falsehoods  of  his  disciples. 

No,  my  friend,  it  will  not  do  to  lie  The 
employer  who  requires  it  of  you  is  a  man  whom 
you  cannot  afford  to  work  for.     Shake  off  the 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   BUSINESS.  93 

dust  of  your  feet  for  a  testimony  against  him 
and  go.  Trust  in  the  LorcJ  and  do  right  and 
you  will  be  better  off,  even  in  this  world,  than  if 
you  trust  in  the  devil  and  do  wrong.  But  there 
is  no  conceivable  privation  or  suffering  that  the 
Christian  man  will  not  gladly  encounter  sooner 
than  be  guilty  of  untruth. 

Let  this  law  of  truthfulness  be  your  guide  in 
all  your  business  life,  whether  you  are  principal 
or  agent,  merchant  or  clerk.  Don't  suppose 
that  you  are  absolved  from  blame  when  you 
employ  another  to  do  wrong  or  when  you  are 
employed  by  another  to  do  wrong.  If  you  con- 
sent to  it,  you  are  responsible  for  it.  Never 
misrepresent  the  quality  of  what  you  are  selling, 
never  be  silent  if  you  know  that  one  with  whom 
you  are  dealing  is  deceived  to  his  detriment. 
If  you  know  that  the  article  appears  to  him  to 
be  what  it  is  not,  undeceive  him.  If  the  label 
on  the  goods  lies,  whether  as  to  quantity  or 
quality,  (and  most  labels  do)  expose  the  false- 
hood before  the  goods  pass  from  your  hands. 
Have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  abominable  trick- 
eries by  which  the  trade  of  the  world  is  infested. 
Do  your   utmost  to  expose    them,  to   prevent 


94  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

them,  to  make  them  disgraceful  and  unprofita 
ble.  If  as  a  Christian  man  you  can  succeed  in 
raising,  though  it  be  only  in  a  small  degree,  the 
standard  of  truthfulness  among  the  business  men 
of  the  community  in  which  you  live,  in  making 
veracity  more  honorable  and  deceit  more  despi- 
cable, you  will  be  helping  mightily  to  build  up 
the  kingdom  of  your  Redeemer  in  the  world. 

Closely  connected  with  this  virtue  of  truth- 
fulness is  the  virtue  of  honesty.  The  honest 
maji  must  be  truthful ;  the  truthful  man  can 
hardly  be  dishonest.  He  who  recognizes  and 
respects  his  neighbor's  right  to  the  truth  is  not 
Hkely  to  trespass  against  any  other  of  his  neigh- 
bor's rights.  It  is  not  safe  for  a  man  to  steal 
who  will  not  lie ;  he  is  sure  to  be  caught  at  it. 
A  thief  who  was  not  also  a  liar  would  be  a  moral 
curiosity.  If  the  foundation  of  character  be 
laid  in  truthfulness,  there  is  therefore  no  doubt 
but  that  the  life  that  is  built  upon  it  will  be  an 
honest  life  ;  nevertheless,  it  is  well  for  the  young 
Christian  to  remember  that  his  religion  does 
imply  not  only  sincerity  of  speech,  but  careful- 
ness to  respect  other  people's  rights  of  property 
In  a  good  many  small  things  it  is  the  way  of  the 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN  BUSINESS.  95 

world  to  be  dishonest ;  but  the  Christian  hears 
his  Master  saying:  "He  that  is  unjust  in  the 
least,  is  unjust  also  in  much."  One  cannot  be 
too  scrupulous  in  such  matters. 

The  private  secretary  of  the  late  Chief  Jus- 
tice Chase  told  me  that  during  the  whole  of  his 
official  life  at  Columbus  as  Governor  of  Ohio  he 
always  kept  a  separate  stock  of  stationery  and 
stamps,  for  his  own  private  correspondence,  and 
never  used  the  supply  furnished  him  by  the 
State  except  for  official  business.  It  was  a  small 
matter  but  it  indicated  the  integrity  of  the  man, 
which  in  all  the  earlier  and  better  part  of  his  life 
was  so  illustrious,  and  which,  if  toward  the  close 
of  his  life  it  ^seemed  to  be  somewhat  dimmed 
only  faded  with  the  waning  of  his  mental  power 
Judge  Chase's  practice  was  none  too  strict.  In  a 
public  officer  it  seems  almost  incredible,  but 
whether  a  man  be  dealing  with  the  property  of 
the  State  or  with  the  property  of  an  individual, 
he  can  be  none  too  scrupulous  about  taking  that 
which  does  not  belong  to  him.  Even  the  Gold- 
en Rule  will  not  serve  us  here.  For  if  we  are 
so  careless  or  so  generous  as  not  to  be  disturbed 
when  others  make  free  with  our  possessions,  that 


96  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

will  not  justify  us  in  making  free  with  the  pos- 
sessions of  others.  I  had  a  neighbor  once, — a 
most  obliging  man,  always  ready  to  do  me  a 
iavor,  and  equally  ready  to  help  himself  without 
asking  to  anything  that  belonged  to  me.  I 
confess  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  difficult 
neighbors  to  deal  with  that  I  ever  had.  I  did 
not  want  to  warn  him  off,  peremptorily,  from 
my  premises ;  but  it  was  very  aggravating  to  see 
how  little  respect  he  had  for  my  rights  as  a  pro- 
prietor ;  how  utterly  confused  were  his  notions 
of  mine  and  thine.  This  lack  of  precision  in 
defining  and  respecting  property  rights  very 
often  leads  to  gross  dishonesty. 

Promptness  in  meeting  his  engagements  is 
another  distinguishing  mark  of  the  Christian  in 
business.  Truthfulness  underlies  this  virtue 
also  ;  it  is  one  of  the  forms  in  which  truthful- 
ness is  exhibited.  In  these  days  it  is  sometimes 
haid  for  the  best  of  us  to  be  punctual  in  keeping 
our  promises.  "  We  are  members  one  of  an- 
other ;  '*  and  the  failure  of  one  neighbor  to 
keep  his  engagement  with  me,  may  make  it  im- 
possible for  me  to  keep  my  engagement  with 
another  neighbor.     I  suppose  that  we  must  all 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   BUSINESS.  97 

be  patient ;  that  is  one  way  in  which,  in  these 
times,  we  are  to  bear  one  another's  burdens. 
But  the  Christian  man  will  be  very  careful  not 
to  enter  into  any  engagement  which  he  does  not 
see  his  way  clear  to  fulfil.  He  will  not  recklessly 
take  upon  himself  obligations  which  he  has  no 
visible  means  of  discharging.  He  will  not  let 
his  imagination  or  his  hopefulness  delude  him 
into  making  promises  which  he  cannot  perform. 

Just  here,  I  think,  some  Christian  men  who 
mean  to  be  honest  make  deplorable  mistakes 
and  bring  great  scandal  upon  the  church.  They 
are  altogether  too  sanguine.  They  take  coun- 
sel in  their  business  ventures  of  their  hopes 
rather  than  pf  experience  and  judgment.  And 
thus  they  take  upon  themselves  obligations 
which  they  never  can  meet  and  drag  others 
along  with  them  into  loss  and  suffering.  Now 
it  is  well  to  be  hopeful,  but  it  is  not  well  to  be 
visionary  ;  and  the  Christian  is  bound  to  culti- 
vate a  sound  mind,  a  sober  judgment  in  all 
these  matters,  and  to  be  very  cautious  how  he 
ventures  upon  any  undertaking  whose  success  is 
not  reasonably  certain. 

Every  Christian,  -whether  engaged  in  com- 
5 


98  THE   CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

mercial  pursuits  or  not,  ought  to  be  sure  that 
he  knows  what  his  income  is,  and  ought  to  be 
careful  that  his  expenditures  do  not  exceed  it, 
unless  he  has  a  surplus  on  which  he  can  draw. 
lie  who,  with  nothing  laid  by,  is  spending  more 
than  he  is  earning,  is  living  at  somebody  else's 
expense.  This  may  sometimes  be  necessary, 
but  when  it  is  done  there  ought  to  be  a  fair  un- 
derstanding. Those  who  are  thus  assisting  us 
ought  to  know  just  what  they  are  doing  ;  then, 
if  they  are  able  and  willing  to  continue  the 
assistance,  and  we  are  willing  to  accept  it,  no- 
body will  have  any  complaints  to  make. 

Fidelity  to  trusts  is  another  form  in  which 
Christianity  displays  itself  in  business.  The 
property  of  others  is  sometimes  committed  to 
our  care.  It  then  becomes  our  duty  to  deal  with 
it  much  more  carefully  than  if  it  were  our  own, 
to  refrain  especially  from  any  use  of  it  which 
the  owner  himself  would  not  approve.  We  have 
no  right  to  employ  it  in  any  private  specula- 
tions. We  have  no  right  to  use  it  unless  there  is 
a  distinct  understanding  to  that  effect.  Money 
for  charitable  purposes  or  money  belonging  to 
social  organizations,  that  comes  into  your  hands 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   BUSINESS.  99 

ought  to  be  kept  sacredly  separate  from  your 
personal  and  private  funds.  It  is  not  right  to 
.use  it,  trusting  that  you  will  be  able  to  replace  it. 
No  matter  how  fair  the  prospect  may  be  of  mak- 
ing this  restoration,  you  cannot  be  sure  of  any- 
thing in  the  future,  and  the  only  safe  way  is  not 
to  touch  a  penny  of  it. 

The  appropriation  of  trust  funds  is  a  crime 
which  has  been  increasing  in  frequency  of  late. 
Many  shocking  instances  of  this  kind  of  infidel- 
ity on  the  part  of  professing  Christians  have 
come  to  light.  The  treasurer  of  one  of  our 
leading  benevolent  societies  was  accustomed 
not  long  ago  to  receive  funds  entrusted  to  him 
for  investment.  Several  poor  widows  put  their 
little  all  into  his  hands,  and  some  of  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Board,  who  had 
saved  a  little  money,  sent  it  to  him  to  be  safely 
placed. 

Instead  of  putting  it  into  good  securities  he 
used  it  to  set  up  a  dissolute  son  of  his  in  business 
at  the  West,  and  every  dollar  of  it  was  sunk. 
One  good  and  well-known  missionary  lost  the 
small  savings  of  a  life-time  by  this  infidelity. 

Now  between  an  act  like  this  and  that  of  the 


lOO  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

burglar  who  blows  open  your  safe  with  nitro- 
glycerine and  runs  away  with  your  bonds  de- 
posited there,  I  confess  the  burglar's  operation 
seems  to  me  a  good  deal  more  respectable. 
Such  a  reckless  and  irresponsible  use  of  trust 
funds  is  one  of  the  gravest  of  crimes.  Yet  I 
suppose  that  this  man  had  accustomed  himself 
to  taking  other  people's  money  for  his  own  use 
or  for  speculation  and  replacing  it  afterward,  till 
he  had  come  to  feel  that  it  was  a  perfectly  legiti- 
mate transaction.  The  ethics  of  financial  trust 
need  to  be  revised  and  enforced  with  all  solem- 
nity upon  every  man  who  stands  in  this  relation. 
**  It  is  required  in  stewards  that  a  man  be  found 
faithful,"  that  he  keep,  sacredly,  that  which 
is  entrusted  to  him,  and  that  he  refrain  from 
using  it  for  private  or  speculative  purposes. 

Closely  connected  with  this  is  the  question 
whether  it  is  the  duty  of  a  bank  officer  to  defend 
with  his  life  the  property  entrusted  to  him.  I 
cannot  doubt  that  it  is.  At  any  rate,  the  bank 
officer  has  no  right,  1  am  sure,  to  assist  in  rob- 
bing the  bank.  He  had  better  sacrifice  his  life 
than  be  a  thief  or  the  partner  of  thieves.  The 
soldier  guarding  the  arsenal  who  should  be  cap- 


TlllC   CHRISTIAN    IN   BUSINESS.  lOI 

turcd  and  threatened  with  death  if  he  would  not 
open  to  the  enemy  the  building  he  was  set  to 
guard  and  aid  them  in  pillaging  it,  would  be 
execrated  if  he  should  save  his  life  by  such  an 
act  of  baseness.  I  see  not  why  the  honor  of 
a  bank  officer  ought  not  to  be  as  sacred  as  the 
honor  of  a  soldier. 

Finally,  the  Christian  in  business  will  prove 
that  his  religion  is  genuine  by  making  his  busi- 
ness always  subordinate  and  tributary  to  his 
religion.  He  will  not  feel  that  business  is  the 
principal  thing  ;  he  will  not  act  as  if  he  thought 
that  the  gains  of  trade  are  of  more  consequence 
than  the  treasures  laid  up  in  heaven.  If  "  a 
Christian  in  business,"  be  the  title  that  describes 
him,  the  emphasis  will  rest  on  "  Christian," 
rather  than  on  **  business."  He  will  seek  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  be- 
lieving that  all  needful  things  will  be  added  after 
that.  "Not  slothful  in  business,"  says  Paul; 
but  that  is  a  measured  phrase,  a  negative  phrase 
•*  fervent  in  spirit  serving  the  Lord  ;  "  that  is  an 
energetic  phrase,  a  positive  phrase.  There  is  no 
testimony  by  which  the  Christian  business  man 
can  more  strongly  support  the  faith  which  he  has 


102  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

professed,  than  by  showing  to  all  those  with 
whom  he  deals  that  the  concerns  of  religion  are 
dearer  to  him  than  those  of  traffic ;  that  he  is 
more  ready  to  forego  a  business  advantage  than 
a  Christian  duty.  And  not  only  by  keeping 
business  under,  and  giving  religion  the  supreme 
place  in  his  life  will  he  win  honor  for  his  Master, 
but  also  and  most  effectively  by  using  his  busi- 
ness benevolently,  by  conducting  it  not  solely 
with  an  eye  to  personal  aggrandizement,  but  also 
as  a  means  of  serving  others.  We  are  all  able 
to  see  in  a  time  of  depression  like  the  present, 
how  great  is  the  service  that  the  man  renders  to 
his  neighbors  who  is  able  to  give  them  employ- 
ment, by  which  they  may  gain  a  livelihood.  I 
know  some  good  Christian  gentlemen  who  have 
engaged  in  business  of  late  for  this  reason, 
because  they  desired  to  provide  work  for  those 
who  were  idle.  It  is  a  most  excellent  and  Chris- 
tian thing  to  do,  and  I  trust  this  method  of 
doing  good  will  become  more  and  more  popular. 
When  Christian  business  men  generally  begin  to 
comprehend  this  truth,  that  the  enterprises  in 
which  they  are  engaged  may  be  and  ought  to  be 
carried  on   with  benevolent  thoughts  ;  that  the 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   BLSINESS.  I03 

faculty  of  organizing  business  is  one  of  the 
talents  of  which  a  Christian  use  must  be  made  ; 
that  the  people  in  their  employ  are  not  their 
foes  nor  their  menials,  but  their  brethren  beloved, 
in  whose  welfare  they  have  a  special  interest,  foi 
whose  good  in  all  things,  temporal  and  spiritual, 
they  are  especially  to  care,  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  will  speedily  become  the  kingdoms  of 
Jehovah  and  of  his  Christ.  This  realm  of  mam- 
mon, with  its  selfish  maxims  and  its  sordid  ten- 
dencies and  its  fierce  competitions,  is  now  the 
stronghold  of  the  world's  evil,  and  the  only  force 
that  can  successfully  lay  siege  to  it  and  take  it 
for  Christ  is  a  consecrated  army  of  Christian 
business  m^n. 


VI. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  IN  SOCIETY. 

The  Christian  is  a  member  of  society.  Not 
only  does  he  belong  to  that  larger  society  which 
constitutes  the  state,  but  also  to  that  smaller 
community  which  is  gathered  in  the  city  o'  che 
village  or  the  rural  district  where  he  dwells.  This 
is  not  a  close  corporation,  into  which  non ';  are 
admitted  save  by  the  vote  of  those  already  be- 
longing; it  is  not  even  a  body  politic,  limiting 
by  rules  more  or  less  wise  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship :  it  is  a  natural  organism  into  which  every 
human  being  is  born;  and  the  duties  that  per- 
tain to  it  are  no  more  optional  than  are  our 
duties  to  God.  The  individual  has  no  more 
power  of  determining  whether  or  not  he  will  be 
a  member  of  society  than  the  hand  has  of  deter- 
mining whether  or  not  it  will  be  a  member  of  the 
body.  The  hermit  is  not  absolved  from  social 
obligations ;  he  may  forswear  them,  but  he  cannot 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   SOCIETY.  I05 

escape  them  no  matter  how  deep  the  seclusion 
into  which  he  may  be  plunged. 

It  is  not  left  w^ith  any  one  to  choose 
whether  he  will  be  a  member  of  society  or  not. 
Is  the  drop  requested  to  choose  whether  it 
will  be  a  part  of  the  river,  or  the  twig  to  makeup 
its  mind  whether  it  will  belong  to  the  tree? 
Here  you  are  in  society  ;  and  you  are  of  it,  as 
well  as  in  it;  into  its  relations  and  its  obligations 
you  were  born  and  you  will  not  escape  from 
them  until  you  die  nor  even  then. 

What  then  is  the  nature  of  the  debt  which 
the  Christian  owes  to  society  ?  Simply  and 
comprehensively,  it  is  the  debt  of  love:  "As  we 
have  opportunity  therefore,  let  us  do  good  to 
all  men."  Our  best  opportunities  of  doing  good 
are  those  which  grow  out  of  our  relations  to  the 
people  who  live  in  our  own  immediate  neighbor- 
hood. To  secure  their  welfare,  to  promote  their 
happiness,  to  improve,  in  all  laudable  ways,  the 
conditions  of  their  life — this  is  our  duty  to  them. 
The  community  in  which  we  live  has  interests 
which  we  ought  to  consider  and  help  in  advan- 
cing. Of  course  its  religious  interests  are  para- 
mount, and  the  Christian  will  make  these  his 
5* 


I06  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

peculiar  care.  But  there  are  other  things  that 
lie  is  bound  to  care  for.  If  all  his  neighbors 
were  converted,  and  were  walking  in  the  fear  of 
the  Lord,  his  duties  to  society  would  not  be 
ended  ;  they  would  be  only  just  begun.  A  great 
many  things  can  be  done  for  the  good  of  the 
saints  that  are  in  the  earth  ;  to  improve  their 
circumstances  and  to  cheer  and  brighten  their 
lives.  And  Paul  says  that  we  are  to  do  good 
not  only  to  the  saints  but  to  all  men  as  we  have 
opportunity. 

How,  then,  is  the  Christian  to  discharge  this 
debt  of  love  that  he  owes  to  the  society  in  which 
he  lives?  After  he  has  performed  his  religious 
duties  in  what  other  ways  can  he  do  good  to  his 
neighbors  ? 

In  the  first  place  he  ought  to  do  all  that  he 
can  to  promote  the  health  of  the  neighborhood 
in  which  he  lives.  Health  is  of  all  things  tem- 
poral the  chief  good  ;  life  is  a  burden  without  it 
and  earthly  possessions  and  gains  are  of  small 
account  when  it  is  wanting.  The  apostle  prayed 
for  the  well-beloved  Gaius  that  he  might  prosper 
and  be  in  health,  even  as  his  soul  prospered. 
You   may  well  pray  and  labor,  too,  for  those 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   SOCIETY.  lO/ 

»vhose  souls  are  prosperous  that  their  bodies 
may  be  sound.  It  is  not  true  that  all  moral 
evil  has  its  source  in  physical  disease,  but  it  is 
true  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  sin  as  well 
as  of  the  suffering  of  this  world  is  directly  con- 
nected with  morbid  bodily  conditions.  Who- 
ever helps,  therefore,  to  improve  the  general 
health  of  the  neighborhood, — to  banish  malaria, 
to  guard  against  infection,  to  provide  good  drain- 
age and  good  water,  to  make  all  the  surround- 
ings wholesome  and  salubrious,  is  doing  part  of 
his  duty  as  a  Christian  in  society. 

In  the  second  place  the  Christian  is  bound 
to  do  what  he  can  toward  improving  the  morals 
of  the  neighborhood  in  which  he  lives.  He 
does  this  first  and  most  effectively  by  himself 
obeying  the  moral  law  ;  by  speaking  truth  and 
doing  justice  and  by  keeping  himself  pure  from 
the  pollutions  of  vice.  But  he  must  also  bear 
witness  against  the  evil  as  it  appears  in  the  com- 
inunity,  and  do  his  utmost  to  create  a  public 
sentiment  by  which  it  shall  be  exterminated. 
As  he  meets  his  neighbors  day  by  day,  he  will 
stir  up  their  pure  minds  to  abhor  the  wrong,  and 
to  make  war  upon  it.     And  when  the  conflict 


I08  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

comes,  as  it  often  does  come,  between  vice  and 
virtue  in  the  community;  when  a  determined 
and  organized  effort  is  made  to  check  the  rava- 
ges of  wickedness,  then  he  will  be  ready  to  fight 
as  well  as  talk ;  to  take  risks  and  endure  hard- 
ships if  need  be  in  the  service  of  social  virtue. 
He  is  a  very  poor  sort  of  Christian  who  is  not 
outspoken  and  aggressive  in  his  championship 
of  morality,  and  in  his  hostility  to  disorder  and 
corruption.  '*  Ye  that  fear  the  Lord  hate  evil." 
The  Christian  is  bound  to  cultivate  hatred  of 
evil  as  well  as  love  of  goodness  and  to  exercise 
this  grace  by  grappling  with  the  evil,  as  it  in- 
trenches itself  in  society,  and  makes  war  upon 
the  peace  and  welfare  of  his  neighbors. 

Again,  the  Christian  in  society  will  seek  to 
promote  intelligence.  Knowledge  is  a  gift  that 
he  will  covet  for  himself,  and  that  he  will  be 
glad  to  see  conferred  upon  his  neighbors.  He 
will  be  deeply  concerned  for  the  interests  of  a 
true  and  generous  culture  in  the  community  in 
which  he  lives.  He  will  desire  that  it  may  be 
an  enlightened  community.  He  knows  that  ig- 
norance is  the  parent  of  superstition,  of  jealo-.isy, 
of  all  unkindness.     He  knows  that  every  truth 


TIIK   CHRISTIAN   IN   SOCIETY.  IO9 

is  God's  truth ;  that  every  true  word  is  God's 
word  ;  and  he  believes  that  the  entrance  of 
God's  word  giveth  light,  that  it  giveth  under- 
standing to  the  simple.  Therefore  he  seeks  to 
let  light  into  all  dark  places,  and  all  clouded 
minds  ;  and  does  whatever  he  can  to  increase  the 
brightness  of  the  beam  that  shines  from  science, 
or  from  history,  or  from  philosophy  or  from  lit- 
erature, into  the  daily  life  of  the  people  among 
whom  he  dwells.  There  are  many  things  that 
we  can  do  as  individuals  or  by  voluntary  associ- 
ations to  promote  culture  in  the  community.  We 
can  improve  our  own  minds,  for  one  thing,  by 
reading  and  study,  so  that  our  conversation 
may  be  stimulating  and  helpful  to  others.  If 
we  would  furnish  ourselves  with  something  to 
talk  about,  so  that  when  the  weather  and  the 
hard  times  and  the  election  news  are  exhausted 
as  topics  of  conversation  we  need  not  resort  to 
gossip,  but  might  be  able  to  impart  something 
really  instructive  and  enlightening,  we  could  do 
a  valuable  missionary  work  in  a  quiet  way,  on 
behalf  of  culture.  "  To  do  good  and  to  com- 
municate forget  not,"  says  an  apostle,  "  for  with 
such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased."     "  To  com- 


no  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

municate "  what?  Charity,  no  doubt,  where 
charity  is  needed  ;  sympathy  when  sympathy  is 
called  for ;  and  always  thoughts,  wise  thoughts, 
high  thoughts  ;  truths  that  kindle  the  better 
life  within  ;  that  strengthen  the  soul's  hope  and 
widen  its  horizon. 

Then  there  are  numberless  ways  in  which 
we  may  aid  in  spreading  knowledge  among  our 
neighbors,  and  in  quickening  their  thirst  for  it. 
By  encouraging  the  dissemination  of  a  pure  lit- 
erature, by  helping  to  establish  libraries  and 
reading  rooms,  by  joining  in  the  patronage  of 
useful  lectures,  by  forming  circles  for  reading 
and  study,  so  that  the  leisure  hours  may  be 
given  to  the  enriching  of  the  mind  rather  than 
<o  its  impoverishment,  as  they  so  often  are, — by 
all  such  methods  we  may  prove  ourselves  friends 
of  knowledge,  and  worthy  laborers  in  that  fruit- 
ful field  where  light  is  sown  for  righteousness. 
In  such  ways  and  in  every  way  the  Christians  of 
the  community  ought  to  be  known  as  the  apos- 
tles of  true  culture,  as  children  of  the  light. 

Beauty  as  well  as  truth  claims  the  counter 
nance  of  the  Christian  in  society.  God  has 
made  everything  beautiful  in  its  season.     God 


THE   CHRISTIAN    IN   SOCIETY.  II  T 

loves  beauty.  It  is  one  of  the  divine  attributes. 
And  we  who  are  his  children  will  honor  him  if 
we  do  what  we  can  to  fill  the  homes  and  the 
hearts  of  the  people  among  whom  we  live  with 
the  beauty  that  helps  in  some  degree  to  reveal 
God  to  them. 

It  is  also  a  Christian  duty  to  promote 
acquaintance  and  sociableness  among  neigh- 
bors. Not  only  ought  members  of  the  same 
church  to  know  one  another,  but  people  living 
in  the  same  neighborhood  owe  one  another 
friendly  offices,  and  ought  to  meet  novv  and 
then,  for  purely  social  purposes.  Our  churches 
claim  much  of  our  time  and  sometimes  exhaust 
our  good  fellowship,  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
our  fraternal  intercourse  should  overflow  the  lim- 
its of  church  relationship,  that  we  may  not  seem 
to  be  sectarian  and  exclusive  in  our  religious 
life.  In  every  community,  whether  it  be  city  or 
village  or  farming  district,  much  may  be  done 
by  the  exercise  of  a  kindly  hospitality  and  by 
the  cultivation  of  a  social  spirit  to  make  life 
pass  pleasantly  and  to  lighten  the  burden  ot 
daily  care.  If  our  social  assemblies  could  al- 
vays  be  without  pararle  or  formality  ;    if  they 


112  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

were  less  devoted  to  the  exhibition  of  finery  and 
more  to  the  cultivation  of  friendliness  ;  if  they 
were  not  so  vulgarly  expensive  in  the  ordering 
as  they  sometimes  are,  but  were  more  homelike 
and  unpretentious  in  their  style,  they  might  be 
very  useful.  And  the  Christian  in  society  will, 
if  he  is  an  intelligent  Christian,  use  all  his  influ- 
ence to  restore  to  the  social  life  of  the  commu- 
nity where  he  lives  these  simpler  manners. 

In  these  gatherings  for  social  purposes  and 
in  other  places  diversions  of  one  sort  or  another 
will  be  provided,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Chris- 
tian to  assist  in  providing  these,  and  by  partici- 
pating in  them  to  preserve  them  from  the  abuses 
that  often  infest  them.  Recreations  and  amuse- 
ments are  not  only  not  necessarily  sinful,  they 
are  indispensable  adjuncts  of  social  life.  Young 
people  need  them  and  so  do  old  people ;  the 
rich  want  them,  and  not  less  do  the  poor.  The 
business  man,  loaded  with  cares  and  goaded  by 
anxieties,  requires  occasional  relaxation  •  the 
laboring  man,  whose  toil  is  monotonous,  and 
whose  life  is  desolate,  wants  some  pleasant  pas- 
time now  and  then  in  which  he  can  forget  him- 
self.    Rest    is     not    enough  ;    the    mind    needs 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN   SOCIETY.  II3 

diversion.  There  is  excellent  tonic  in  "  a  good 
time  "  for  the  jaded  and  anxious  worker.  "  A 
merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medicine."  Ex- 
perience teaches  that  people  will  have  amuse- 
ments. They  cannot  do  without  them.  And 
it  is  therefore  the  duty  of  the  Christian  in  society 
to  take  hold  of  this  department  of  life  and 
Christianize  it.  The  thing  can  be  done — there 
is  no  doubt  about  it, — and  it  must  be  done.  It  is 
quite  vain  for  Christians  to  stand  aloof  from  all 
the  diversions  of  society,  complaining  of  the 
evils  connected  with  them  ;  they  must  enter 
heartily  into  them,  and  guard  them  against  the 
evils.  What  is  more,  they  must  learn  to  use  a 
little  common  sense  in  their  treatment  of  all 
these  questions  of  amusement,  and  when  a  pas- 
time, in  itself  innocent,  is  badly  abused,  they 
must  direct  their  censure  not  at  the  pastime 
but  at  the  abuse.  It  is  sometimes  a  great  service 
to  reclaim  a  diversion  that  has  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  devil,  and  to  show  how  it  may  be 
harmlessly  and  helpfully  used.  That  makes  the 
good  apparent  and  the  evil  also  manifest,  and 
establishes  a  principle  which  it  is  always  safe  to 
fellow 


114  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

It  is  always  important  that  the  Christian  who 
enters  into  society,  into  the  social  assembhes 
and  the  diversions  of  the  day,  go  always  as  a 
Christian  ;  that  he  be  not  subservient  to  the  cus- 
toms and  conventions  of  society,  many  of  which 
are  foolish  and  some  of  which  are  sinful.  He 
is  to  govern  his  conduct  not  always  by  the 
usages  of  society  but  always  by  the  law  of 
Christ.  When  the  two  come  into  conflict  he  can 
never  hesitate  for  a  moment  as  to  which  he 
shall  obey.  And  the  man  who  thus  in  utter  fidel- 
ity to  the  higher  law  goes  out  into  society  and 
lets  his  light  shine  will  be  as  a  city  set  on  a  hill 
that  cannot  be  hid. 

Some  of  these  interests  that  I  have  men- 
tioned, as  esthetic  culture,  sociableness,  diversion, 
can  only  be  cared  for  by  voluntary  effort.  But 
those  more  important  ones  which  I  mentioned 
first,  health,  morality,  and  education,  are  largely 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  the  laws.  Much  can  be 
done  to  promote  these  interests  by  private  effort 
and  voluntary  association  ;  but  as  our  society  is 
at  present  organized,  the  government  of  the 
town  or  the  city  takes  upon  its  shoulders  the 
greater  part   of  the  burden.     But   what   is   as- 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN    SOCIETY.  II 5 

sumed  by  the  government  is  not  withdrawn  from 
the  sphere  of  Christian  activity,  because  the 
Christian  is  a  citizen,  and  it  is  part  of  his  Chris- 
tian duty  to  see  to  it  that  the  government  is 
wisely  chosen,  and  that  it  faithfully  performs  its 
duties.  One  of  the  first  and  most  urgent  of  the 
duties  of  the  Christian  in  society  is  to  see  that 
good  laws  are  made  and  good  magistrates 
elected.  There  is  no  better  opportunity  of  doing 
good  than  that  which  presents  itself  where  re- 
sponsible offices  are  to  be  filled.  The  welfare  ot 
the  community  depends  in  no  small  degree  upon 
the  men  to  whom  its  affairs  are  entrusted.  And 
the  best  men  do  not  gravitate  into  office ;  they 
must  be  put  in  by  main  strength  and  kept  in  by 
resolute  endeavor.  The  price  of  liberty  and 
good  government  is  not  only  eternal  vigilance 
but  eternal  courage  and  eternal  sacrifice.  The 
Christian  citizen  must  never  think  the  victory 
over  bad  government  won  ;  like  the  battle  with 
sin  in  his  own  heart  the  conflict  must  be  renewed 
boldly  every  day. 

The  Christian  in  society  is,  as  I  said  at  the 
beginning,  a  member  of  that  larger  society 
which  we  call  the  state  or  the  nation ;  and  aU 


Il6  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

that  has  been  said  about  the  duty  of  securing 
good  iaws  and  good  magistrates  for  the  town  or 
the  city  applies  with  still  greater  force  to  those 
higher  and  more  responsible  relations  into  which  I 
oar  citizenship  in  the  commonwealth  and  the 
republic  introduces  us.  The  political  duties  of 
a  Christian  are  among  the  most  important  du- 
ties that  he  is  called  to  perform.  If  in  any  part 
of  his  service  he  needs  the  wisdom  of  the  Most 
High  to  guide  him,  he  needs  it  when  he  deter- 
mines upon  his  political  action.  There  is  great 
danger  that  his  decision  will  be  influenced  by 
unworthy  motives.  In  every  political  campaign 
a  great  many  lies  are  told.  He  ought  to  be  in- 
telligent enough  to  detect  and  reject  the  false- 
hood. In  every  great  national  contest  the 
basest  passions  are  continually  appealed  to,  and 
the  most  unfair  and  outrageous  misrepresenta- 
tions of  opponents  are  all  the  while  indulged  in. 
He  ought  to  be  upright  and  honorable  enough, 
not  only  to  resist  this  onset  of  hate  and  spi*-e, 
but  to  denounce  and  repudiate  everything  that  is 
unfair  and  dishonorable.  In  every  heated  polit- 
ical arena  the  Christian  ought  to  try  to  keep  a 
cool  judgment  and  an  even  temper.     I  do  not 


Tllb:   CHRISTIAN   IN    SOCIETY.  II7 

say  that  he  should  never  feel  or  manifest  indig- 
nation, for  things  will  be  done  which,  as  an 
honorable  man,  he  ought  to  resent,  and  men  will 
api)ear  as  candidates  for  public  favor  that  ought 
to  have  the  truth  told  about  them,  even  if  it 
takes  very  hard  and  strong  words  to  tell  the 
whole  truth.  But  a  proper  indignation  at 
wTongs  done  or  attempted  and  a  proper  abhor- 
rence of  rascals  in  office  or  seeking  office,  are 
quite  compatible  with  the  utmost  fairness  to 
opponents,  and  the  most  judicial  temper  in 
studying  the  issues  of  the  campaign.  It  is  gen- 
erally safe  to  conclude  that  the  good  men  are 
not  all  in  one  party  nor  the  bad  men  all  in  the 
other  ;  it  is,  always  best  to  hope  that  there  may 
be  some  patriotism  and  some  intelligence  among 
our  political  opponents.  The  Christian  man 
ought  to  remember  that  Christ's  word  about 
judging  and  being  judged,  and  his  rule  about 
doing  to  others  as  we  would  that  others  should 
do  unto  us,  hold  good  even  in  a  presidential 
year ;  and  that  the  charity  that  thinketh  no 
evil,  and  that  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  is  be- 
coming even  in  our  treatment  of  poli*-icaI  op- 
ponents. 


Il8  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

With  this  spirit  of  moderation  anJ  this  de- 
termination to  know  the  truth,  and  to  put 
country  always  above  party,  the  Christian 
should  enter  into  politics.  I  can  think  of  few 
spheres  of  activity  in  which  there  is  more  need 
of  him.  They  tell  us  that  the  olden  times  were 
worse  than  these ;  that  there  was  not  only  more 
of  corruption  and  chicane  in  politics  during  the 
first  two  decades  of  our  national  life  than  there 
is  to-day,  but  that  partisanship  was  more  bitter 
then  than  it  is  now.  I  suppose  that  this  is  true, 
nevertheless  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  any- 
thing could  be  much  viler  than  the  torrent  of 
political  agitation  that  is  poured  through  the 
land  now,  every  four  years.  To  say  that  our 
presidential  campaigns  as  at  present  conducted 
are  a  valuable  means  of  educating  the  people  is 
to  my  mind  a  pitiful  absurdity.  Educating 
them  in  what  ?  In  falsehood  and  hate,  if  in 
anything.  Fair,  intelligent,  discriminating  dis- 
cussioi'  of  the  issues  before  them  they  do  not 
get.  Each  party  presents  every  fact  and  every 
consideration  that  makes  for  itself  and  against 
its  opponent,  and  energetically  suppresses  every 
fact  and  every  consideration  that  makes  against 


THE   CHRISTIAN   IN    SOCIETY. 


itself  and  for  its  opponent.  The  candid  and 
impartial  voter  can  only  weigh  two  partial  and 
contradictory  statements,  and  seek  to  strike  the 
balance  between  them  ;  but  how  many  are  there 
who  hear  both  sides,  and  weigh  both  sides  ? 
Not  one  in  a  hundred. 

I  cannot  but  feel  that  these  quadrennial 
contests  are  a  fruitful  source  of  demoralization, 
rather  than  of  profit.  Not  only  because  of  the 
bribery  that  is  so  freely  resorted  to,  not  only 
because  of  the  corrupt  bargains  that  are  so  often 
made  to  secure  nominations,  but  also  and  chiefly 
because  of  the  poisoning  of  the  mind  of  the 
people  at  large  with  false  accusations  and  false 
theories  and  the  embittering  of  their  hearts  with 
hateful  passions.  Men  learn  to  take  distorted 
and  one-sided  views  of  all  political  questions* 
they  learn  to  put  the  worst  possible  construction 
always  upon  the  conduct  of  their  opponents  ; 
what  is  worse,  they  learn  to  stand  by  when  out- 
rageous wrongs  aie  done  in  the  interest  of  the 
party  to  which  they  have  attached  themselves, 
and  either  keep  silent  or  defend  the  wrong. 
The  optimistic  moralists  are  always  inclined  to 
make  light  of  this  when  it  is  past.     "  See,"  they 


I20  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

say,  "  how  quickly  these  people  that  were  but 
a  little  while  ago  so  hot  in  their  animosities 
get  over  their  passion  !  "  Yes  ;  but  the  fact  that 
a  man  is  sober  and  quiet  this  morning  does  not 
cancel  the  fact  that  last  night  he  was  drunk  and 
violent.  And  I  do  not  think  it  good  to  be 
drunk,  either  with  wine  or  with  party  passion, 
even  though  one  may  after  a  while  become 
sober  again. 

Into  this  fierce  and  brutal  strife  the  Chris- 
tian ought  to  carry  his  Christianity  ;  standing 
always  for  honor  and  fair  play;  for  chivalry  in 
the  treatment  of  opponents;  for  truth  and  the 
whole  truth  against  the  perversions  and  conceal- 
ments of  partisans  ;  for  all  things  honest  and  of 
good  report  no  matter  with  what  party  they  may 
be  identified  ;  against  all  things  base  and  vicious 
in  his  own  party  quite  as  stoutly  as  in  the  other. 
For  such  a  mixing  of  religion  with  politics  there 
is  surely  an  urgent  call.  And  when  a  little 
more  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  infused  into  oui 
political  discussions,  we  shall  find  that  our  reli- 
gion as  well  as  our  politics  will  be  the  gainer , 
that  the  one  will  be  more  vigorous  and  manly 
and  the  other  more  pure  and  honorable. 


VII 

THE   CHRISTIAN'S  QUIET   LIFE. 

Service  and  not  sanctification  is,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  supreme  object  of  the  Christian's 
desire  and  endeavor.  "  To  serve  the  present 
age,"  this  is  his  high  calling.  The  attainment 
of  a  perfect  character  is  not  neglected  by  him, 
but  that  is  an  object  to  be  sought  indirectly. 

It  may  be  said  that  character  is  the  supreme 
thing;  that  a  perfect  soul  is  better  than  any  or 
all  the  acts  that  issue  from  it ;  just  as  the  mind 
of  Shakespeare  is  greater  than  the  sum  of  all  his 
dramas.  That  is  true.  But  Shakespeare's  won- 
derful mind  was  not  the  result  of  constant  labor 
exf:ended  directly  upon  his  mind.  If  his  mind 
had  been  a  constant  care  to  him,  he  would  have 
been  a  noodle.  It  was  not  by  nursing  his  mind 
but  by  using  his  mind,  that  he  became  the  par- 
agon of  poets,  and  the  prince  of  modern  inter- 
preters of  human  life.  The  man  who  devotes 
6 


122  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 


his  whole  Hfe  to  the  study  of  his  mental  pro- 
cesses, and  the  curing  of  his  mental  ailments, 
and  the  discovery  of  the  laws  of  mental  hygiene 
and  the  practice  of  mental  gymnastics,  will  prob- 
ably develop  a  very  pretty  little  model  of  a 
mind,  but  like  the  inventor's  model  engine,  it  is 
fitted  to  look  at  or  to  play  with,  not  to  use.  It 
is  the  vigorous  and  productive  use  of  the  mind 
in  the  study  of  truth,  in  the  business  of  life,  that 
makes  the  intellectual  man. 

Happiness  like  mental  culture  is  missed  by 
those  who  seek  it  directly. 

'*  O  Happiness,  our  being's  end  and  aim," 

cries  out  the  unphilosophical  Pope.  But  they 
who  make  happiness  their  being's  end  and  aim, 
who  say  to  themselves  "  Go  to  !  let  us  be  hap- 
py," are  always  sure  to  make  themselves  miser- 
able. Happiness  always  flies  from  those  that 
pursue  it  ;  it  is  found  only  by  those  who  forge 
to  seek  it,  and  devote  their  lives  to  some  honest 
and  beneficent  labor. 

What  is  true  of  mental  development  and  of 
happiness  is  true  also  of  moral  and  spiritual  per- 
fection.    The   highest   religious   culture   is   not 


THE   CHRISTIANS   QUIET   LIFE.  I23 

attained  by  those  who  make  religious  culture 
the  supreme  object  of  their  thought  and  their 
endeavors.  Those  Christians  whose  chief  con 
cern  is  their  own  spiritual  condition,  are  a  ver> 
poor  sort  of  Christians.  A  self-conscious  holi- 
ness is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  It  is  through 
a  self-forgetful  service  that  the  highest  culture  is 
gained  ;  through  a  faithful  following  of  Him  who 
came  not  to  minister  to  himself,  not  to  be  min- 
istered unto,  but  to  minister  to  others  ;  who  be- 
came King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  by  his 
utter  self-surrender  ;  and  whose  highest  praise 
is  spoken  in  the  scoffs  of  his  murderers — "  He 
saved  others — himself  he  cannot  save." 

Nevertheless  there  are  passive  virtues  as  well 
as  active  virtues;  and  there  are,  or  ought  to  be, 
many  hours  in  the  Christian's  life  when  he  is 
not  employed  directly  in  doing  good  to  others, 
and  when  he  must  think  of  himself — of  his  own 
spiritual  condition,  of  the  gains  and  losses  of  his 
daily  commerce  in  the  heavenly  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  grace  and  power.  There  is  a  time 
to  meditate  as  well  as  a  time  to  act ;  and  this 
quiet  life  of  the  Christian,  in  which  his  spirit  is 
refreshed  and  his  strength  for  labor  is  replen- 


124  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

ished,  is  a  most  essential  part  of  the  regimen 
under  which  his  character  is  developed.  Per- 
haps many  of  us  do  not  know  so  much  as  we 
ought  about  the  peace  of  the  still  hour,  the  fruit- 
ful growths  of  the  quiet  life.  I  would  not  say 
that  there  is  too  much  service  and  too  little  cul- 
ture. Too  much  genuine  service  there  cannot 
be  ;  but  there  may  easily  be  too  much  parade 
of  service  ;  too  much  bustle  and  noise  of  doing ' 
too  much  public  service  as  compared  with  those 
more  private  and  unostentatious  ministries  in 
which  some  of  the  best  traits  of  the  Christian 
character  are  wholly  developed.  But  while  ser- 
vice is  the  principal  thing,  and  while,  if  rightly 
divided  and  directed,  there  cannot  be  too  much 
of  it,  there  may  easily  be  too  little  of  medita- 
tion, too  little  dwelling  apart  in  the  secret 
silence  of  the  mind.  Our  Lord  himself  went 
away  more  than  once  from  those  ministries  of 
love  in  which  his  strength  was  consumed,  and 
climbed  the  mountain  side  to  spend  the  night  in 
prayer.  If  he  needed  such  seasons  of  repose 
and  refreshment  much  more  do  we. 

"  But  thou  when  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy 
closet,  and  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door  pray 


THE   christian's   QUIET   LIFE.  12$ 

to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father 
which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly." 
These  words  from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
aie  not  a  prohibition  of  public  prayer  or  social 
prayer  ;  they  are  only  a  reproof  of  those  who  per- 
formed their  private  devotions  in  public  places  ; 
who  said  their  prayers  on  the  corners  of  the 
stree.ts  to  be  seen  of  men.  It  is  this  ostentatious 
abuse  which  our  Lord  condemns  in  the  verse 
before  the  one  1  have  quoted.  But  these  words 
are  the  most  explicit  authority  for  that  quiet  Hfe 
of  prayer  and  meditation  of  which  we  have  been 
speaking.  The'  closet  hours  are  to  be  sacredly 
set  apart  and  sacredly  observed.  It  is  not  well 
to  leave  this  jnost  important  business  to  impulse 
or  caprice.  The  volitions  that  lead  to  it  ought 
to  be  fenced  in  with  the  force  of  habit.  That 
which  is  habitual  is  easy  of  performance;  and  a 
good  habit  hke  this  may  come  to  rule  the  soul 
as  firmly  as  those  evil  habits  do  that  hold  us  in 
painful  thrall. 

I  have  spoken  already  of  the  uses  of  reading 
in  preparing  us  to  speak  well ;  but  reading  is  also 
a  good  help  to  those  who  would  think  well. 
There  are  many  books  that  are  not  fit  compan- 


126  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

ions  for  the  closet  hrur  ;  but  there  are  a  few  with 
which  we  may  well  bit  down  in  the  secret  place, 
because  they  will  aid  us  in  calling  in  our  thoughts 
from  the  noisy  world  outside  and  in  fixing  them 
upon  the  things  that  are  unseen  and  eternal. 
It  sometimes  requires  a  strong  effort  of  the  will 
to  wrench  one's  attention  loose  from  the  cares 
and  interests  of  this  p  resent  life  ;  and  if  we  begin 
the  silent  hour  by  simply  trying  to  think  good 
thoughts,  the  good  thoughts  may  fail  to  come 
when  we  summon  Ihem,  and  thoughts  that  are 
unbidden  and  unprofitable  guests  may  throng  in 
and  fill  the  space  that  ought  to  be  sacred  to  de- 
votion. But  many  m  hose  mental  discipline  has 
not  been  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  think  con- 
secutively and  profitably  in  such  a  season,  can 
yet  fix  their  attenti  )n  upon  a  book,  and  out  of 
the  truth  which  it  contains  may  draw  stimulus 
and  refreshment.  And  though  the  book  should 
not  occupy  all  the  ti'ne  set  apart  for  meditation, 
it  may  often  servf  i  5  a  bridge  over  which  the 
Christian  may  pass  from  the  busy  life  to  the 
quiet  life.  Such  books  as  Professor  Phelps* 
"  The  Still  Hour,"  Miss  Dora  Greenwell's  '*  The 
Patience  of  Hope,"  and   '*  A  Present  Heaven  " 


THE   CHRISTIANS   QUIET   LIFE.  12/ 

Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson's  *'  The  Holy  Comforter," 
Dr.  VV.  W.  Patton's  '*  Spiritual  Victory,"  Dr.  E. 
H.  Scars'  "  Sermons  and  Songs  for  the  Christian 
Life,"  the  Sermons  of  Dr.  Bushnell  or  President 
Woolsey  or  President  Hopkins  or  Frederick  Rob- 
ertson or  Robert  Leighton  or  Jeremy  Taylor ; 
the  Life  and  Letters  of  Robertson,  Pascal's 
"  Thoughts,"  or  Dean  Goulburn's  '*  Thoughts  on 
Personal  Religion,"  may  lead  the  studious  dis- 
ciple into  that  contemplative  mood  in  which  the 
great  themes  of  the  immortal  life  become  reali- 
ties. Novels,  even  those  of  most  religious  intent, 
are  to  be  eschewed  in  the  hour  of  meditation  ; 
what  the  soul  needs  is  not  excitement  nor  even 
exhilaration,-  but  the  clearing  of  its  spiritual 
vision  and  the  strengthening  of  its  pinions  for 
flights  above  the  world  of  sense. 

But  while  such  books  as  I  have  named  may 
often  serve  us  well  in  our  quiet  hours,  there 
if,  but  one  book,  after  all,  that  is  fit  to  be  the 
inseparable  companion  of  the  closet,  and  that  is 
the  Bible.  For  instruction,  for  inspiration,  for 
stimulus,  no  other  words  are  to  be  compared 
with  those  which  we  find  upon  its  sacred  pages. 
Not  all  parts  of  the  Bible  are  equal'y  adapted  to 


THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 


the  uses  of  the  closet  ;  the  Psalms  and  the  Book 
of  Job,  and  the  Prophecies  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, with  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament, 
ire  the  portions  from  which  we  shall  derive 
most  benefit.  The  Bible  in  the  closet  is  not  to 
be  used  as  a  text-book  of  theology  ;  it  is  not  by 
the  microscopic  method  of  interpretation  that  we 
get  the  most  good  from  it ;  we  must  beware  how 
we  place  too  much  stress  on  a  literal  rendering 
of  certain  texts ;  it  is  by  a  large  and  free  use  of 
the  book  that  its  truth  is  unfolded  to  us  ;  the 
letter  killeth  but  the  spirit  giveth  life.  To  put 
ourselves  in  the  place  of  the  sacred  writer  so  far 
as  we  are  able  ;  to  feel  the  impulse  that  moves 
him  to  write — the  lift  and  sweep  of  his  inspira. 
tion ;  to  get  into  the  current  of  the  divine 
thought  that  is  bearing  him  on  ;  to  catch  his 
spirit  and  see  the  life  that  now  is  and  the  lifo 
that  is  to  come  with  his  eyes — this  is  the  right 
method  for  him  who  uses  the  Bible  as  an  aid  to 
secret  meditation  and  devotion.  At  other  times 
and  for  other  purposes  it  may  be  well  to  .study 
the  Book  critically,  grammatically,  narrowly, 
but  that  is  not  the  way  to  use  it  in  the  closet. 
It  is  to  our  feelings  rather  than  our  critical  fac- 


THE   CHRISTIAN'S   QUIET   LIFE.  I2g 

ulties  that  it  ought  to  address  itself  there  ;  the 
awakening  of  our  desires  for  better  Hfe,  the 
kindling  of  our  hopes,  the  quickening  of  our 
consciences,  the  enlarging  of  our  faith  is  the 
service  we  then  dennand  of  it.  And  this  is 
obtained,  not  when  we  set  ourselves  up  as  in- 
quisitors, and  controversialists,  to  cross  question 
the  Bible,  but  when  we  drink  in  with  reverent 
faith  its  holy  inspirations,  when  without  setting 
forth  in  quest  of  somewhat  upon  its  pages,  we 
quietly  wait  and  let  the  truth  discover  us.  We 
do  not  always  need  to  seek  God  in  the  Bible, 
for  in  the  Bible  God  is  seeking  us,  and  he  will 
surely  find  us,  if  we  are  ready  to  be  found  of 
him. 

To  read,  and  think ;  to  think  while  we  are 
reading  ;  to  pause  in  our  reading  for  more  care- 
ful thought ;  to  *'  mark,  ponder,  and  inwardly 
digest "  the  word  of  truth  as  it  is  brought  to  us 
whether  upon  the  inspired  oruninspiied  page, — 
this  is  a  means  of  grace  that  we  cannot  afford  to 
neglect.  Not  all  our  thinking  however,  will  be 
the  product  of  our  reading.  Life  as  well  as 
literature  will  furnish  us  with  profitable  themes; 
the  events  that  happen  within  our  knowledge, 
6* 


130  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

the  passages  in  our  daily  experience  will  be  fruit 
ful  of  thought.  If  we  are  faithfully  endeavoring 
to  apply  our  religion  to  our  lives,  difficult  ques- 
tions will  be  arising  continually,  of  which  we 
shall  need  to  think  ;  questions  of  conduct,  ques- 
tions of  service.  Off  hand  decisions  of  problems 
of  duty  are  often  unwise;  a  fuller  investigation 
of  the  subject  in  all  its  bearings  would  have 
resulted  in  a  different  judgment.  For  such 
careful  examination  of  the  doubtful  cases  aris- 
ing in  our  every  day  practice  time  is  wanted — 
and  the  hour  of  quiet  study  is  the  right  time. 

There  is  need  also  of  some  thorough  probing 
of  the  inner  life  ;  some  strict  and  stern  self-judg- 
ment. All  that  I  have  said  about  the  unwisdom 
of  making  one's  own  spiritual  condition  the  up- 
permost concern  is  true.  The  religious  life 
whose  energies  are  consumed  in  self-question- 
ing, whose  one  great  concern  is  expressed  in  the 
hymn : 

"  Do  I  love  the  Lord  or  no  ? 
Am  I  his  or  am  I  not  ?  " 

is  always  an  unfruitful  life.  Yet  there  is  a  time 
for  careful  self-examination,  for  thorough  in- 
spection of  the  foundations  of  character.     Old 


THE   CIIKISTIAN'S   QUIET   LIFE.  13I 

George  Herbert's  quaint  counsel  is  to  be  duly 

heeded : 

• 

•*By  all  means  use  sometimes  to  be  alone  ; 

Salute  thyself;  see  what  thy  soul  doth  wear; 
Dare  to  look  in  thy  chest,  for  'tis  thine  own, 

And  tumble  up  and  down  what  thou  find'st  there." 

The  comparison  of  our  conduct  with  our 
ideals  ;  the  measurement  of  our  daily  practice  by 
the  perfect  standard  of  Christ's  law ;  the  fair 
estimate  of  our  attainments  in  the  light  of  our 
opportunities — these  are  useful  exercises.  They 
are  not  to  be  too  frequently  resorted  to ;  the 
staple  of  Christian  devotion  is  not  self-examina- 
tion ;  but  in  due  measure  they  are  profitable. 
Ask  yourself  about  the  temper,  whether  that  is 
growing  less  fractious  and  less  sullen ;  about  the 
will,  whether  that  is  growing  firmer  and  steadier 
in  its  adherence  to  right  principles  and  good 
purposes,  and  more  pliable  and  gentle  when 
honest  opinions  collide,  and  opposing  interests 
are  to  be  harmonized ;  about  the  thoughts, 
whether  they  are  becoming  purer,  and  holier; 
whether  the  flocks  of  evil  fancies  that  were  once 
continually  darkening  the  mind,  now  return  less 
frequently,  and  are  more  quickly  driven  away 


132  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

about  the  disposition,  whether  that  is  growing 
more  generous  and  loving ;  whether  it  is  easier 
than  once  it  was  to  practice  self-denial  in  the 
small  affairs  of  every  day,  as  well  as  in  the 
great  sacrifices  that  now  and  then  must  be 
made ;  whether  the  foolish  vanity  that  puts  the 
externals  of  life  above  its  realities,  and  the  fool- 
ish pride  that  leads  you  to  despise  those  less  for- 
tunate than  you,  and  the  mean  envy  and  jeal- 
ousy that  sometimes  disfigure  your  characters, 
and  the  petty  ambitions  that  often  domineer 
your  better  natures — whether  all  these  degrad- 
ing passions  are  being  subdued  ;  ask  yourself 
about  the  tongue,  whether  that  is  getting  tamer, 
slower  to  censure,  swifter  to  bless ;  about  the 
appetites,  whether  they  are  learning  to  submit 
to  the  sway  of  the  nobler  affections  and  the  rea- 
son ;  you  will  find  questions  enough  doubtless 
to  ask  yourself,  and  if  you  urge  them  with  thor- 
oughness and  answer  them  with  honesty,  the 
inquisition  may  be  fruitful  of  good. 

Such  a  candid  survey  of  one's  own  character 
is  pretty  certain  to  discover  weak  points,  easily 
besetting  sins.  There  are  faults  of  tempera- 
ment, or  faults  of  training,  or  faults  of  habit  to 


THE  christian's  quiet  life.         133 

which  we  are  all  addicted,  and  which  such  an 
inspection  will  make  us  conscious  of.  And  the 
result  ought  to  be  the  direction  of  our  efforts  at 
self-discipline  toward  these  weak  points.  **  Es- 
pecially," says  the  apostle,  (for  this  is  the  right 
reading)  "  especially  "  let  us  guard  against  "  the 
sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us."  The  weak- 
est point  in  the  defenses  is  the  point  that  the 
enemy  will  assail  and  it  is  there  that  the  strong- 
est force  must  be  massed. 

But  study  and  reflection  and  self-examination 
are  not  the  only  occupations  of  the  still  hour. 
It  is  also,  and  more  especially,  the  time  for 
prayer.  It  is  well  to  commune  with  wise  men 
who  have  left  for  us  in  the  books  that  they  have 
written  the  record  of  their  own  experience  ;  it  is 
well  to  commune  with  those  holy  men  of  old  who 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  whose  words,  written  for  our  learning,  are 
profitable  for  doctrine,  reproof  and  instruction  in 
righteousness  ;  it  is  well  to  commune  with  our 
own  hearts  in  silence  as  we  measure  the  poor 
achievements  of  our  lives  with  the  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  but  to  commune  with 
God   himself,  to  speak  distinctly  to  him    and 


134  THE  CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

know  that  he  hears  us  ;  to  open  all  our  hearts 
to  him  in  thanksgiving,  in  confession,  in  entreaty, 
in  intercession,  and  be  assured  that  he  is  more 
responsive,  more  sympathetic,  more  compassion-  ( 
ate  than  the  tenderest  father,  the  most  loving 
mother  into  whose  ear  the  erring  but  trusting 
child  pours  the  story  of  his  penitence  and  his 
purpose  of  better  living, — this  is  at  once  the 
highest  privilege,  the  greatest  honor,  and  the 
noblest  occupation  permitted  to  mortal  men. 
Public  prayer,  social  prayer,  and  family  prayer 
are  all  useful  and  even  indispensable  means  of 
grace;  but  the  prayer  that  most  enriches  the 
believer,  that  brings  him  into  the  closest  fel- 
lowship with  his  Lord  and  Master,  is  that  which 
is  lifted  up  in  the  secret  place.  It  is  when  none 
but  God  is  near,  that  the  heart  most  freely 
utters  its  need,  and  most  strongly  urges  its 
petitions.  In  your  closet  you  can  pray  for 
many  things  that  you  have  no  right  to  speak  of 
in  the  prayer-meeting,  or  even  at  the  family 
altar.  The  deepest  needs  of  the  human  soul 
are  often  those  which  none  but  God  can  know ; 
the  deepest  sorrows  are  those  which  we  can  tell 
none   but   him  ;    the    struggles   that   are   most 


THE  christian's  quiet  life.        135 

decisive  in  our  spiritual  warfare  are  those  that 
are  waged  when  we  are  left  alone,  as  Jacob  was, 
and  wrestle  with  the  Angel  of  the  covenant  some- 
tinnes  even  unto  the  breaking  of  the  day.  The 
Christian  who  lives  without  secret  prayer,  or 
who  prays  in  secret  perfunctorily  and  drily — 
just  saying  his  prayers  and  letting  that  suffice, — 
is  neither  a  growing  Christian  nor  a  working 
Christian.  I  doubt  whether  he  is  a  Christian 
at  all. 

Let  me  offer  a  word  or  two  of  counsel  con- 
cerning the  manner  in  which  this  duty  of  private 
devotion  may  best  be  performed.. 

1.  Be  simple  and  direct  in  your  secret 
prayer.  Tl}e  grace  of  simplicity  is  not  to  be 
despised  in  public  prayer ;  but  when  we  call  on 
God  in  secret,  any  formality  or  elaborateness  in 
our  petitions  is  an  offense. 

2.  Pray  audibly.  You  need  not  lift  your 
voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street,  but  it  is  vastly 
setter  to  pray  not  merely  in  our  thoughts  but 
ilso  with  words.  The  utterance  of  our  wants 
Helps  to  define  them.  Wishes  that  merely  drift 
through  the  mind  and  never  find  articulate  ex- 
pression   are  not  apt  to  be  influential  in  theif 


136  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

effect  upon  our  characters.  And  prayers  on 
which  we  are  not  willing  to  put  the  emphasis  of 
utterance  are  not  likely  to  be  effectual  prayers. 
I  do  not  deny  that  a  silent  wish,  a  sincere 
desire  of  the  soul,  unexpressed  as  well  as 
uttered,  may  be  recognized  as  genuine  prayer 
and  may  be  answered  ;  but  I  say  that  when  one 
enters  into  his  closet  to  pray  to  his  Father  in 
secret,  it  is  far  better  that  he  should  put  his 
petition  into  plain  words.  *'  Beware,"  says  Dr. 
James  W.  Alexander,  "  of  confining  yourself  to 
mental  prayer,  but  in  your  regular  devotions 
employ  audible  utterance  ;  for  great  is  the  reflex 
influence  of  the  voice  upon  the  feelings." 

3.  Be  honest  in  your  secret  prayer.  Do  not 
express  any  want  that  you  do  not  feel.  Do  not 
confess  any  fault  that  you  do  not  mean  to  for- 
sake. Do  not  keep  anything  back.  Remember 
that  it  is  He  that  searcheth  the  heart  to  whom 
you  are  speaking.  Do  we  not  sometimes  while 
I  conscious  of  a  fault  or  a  sin  ignore  it  in  our  de- 
votions, praying  all  round  it,  but  never  men- 
tioning it  ?  We  know  that  we  are  in  the  wrong, 
but  we  do  not  mean  to  forsake  the  wrong ; 
therefore  we  choose  to  pass  the  matter  by  in 


THE   CHRISTIAN  S   QUIET   LIFE.  I37 

silence.  Such  prayers  as  these  must  be  arid 
and  profitless  for  they  are  an  abomination  to  the 
Lord.  If  there  is  a  secret  fault  to  which  we 
deliberately  cling  we  cannot  expect  the  favor  of 
him  who  demands  of  every  worshipper  the 
whole  heart. 

4.  Pray  earnestly.  The  words  need  not  be 
loud,  but  the  desire  should  be  intense.  "  The 
fervent,  energetic  prayer  of  a  righteous  man 
availeth  much."  *'  The  Kingdom  of  heaven 
suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by 
force."  No  listless,  drowsy  petitioning  will 
serve.  The  closet  is  a  quiet  place,  but  there  are 
strenuous  and  mighty  forces  that  do  their  work 
in  silence.- 

5.  Do  not  mock  God  in  your  prayers.  Do 
not  beg  him  to  come  to  you.  You  know  that  he 
is  never  far  from  any  soul  that  seeks  him.  That 
prayer  is  answered  before  you  utter  it.  Do  not 
ask  God  to  do  for  you  that  which  he  has  ex- 
pressly bidden  you  to  do.  How  grossly  in  such 
prayers  as  these  we  abuse  his  infinite  patience. 
Ask  him  always  to  help  you  ;  in  every  strife,  in 
every  service,  in  every  simplest  act  of  devotion 
or  obedience   you  need  his  help :    but  do  not 


138  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

beseech  him  to  do  your  duties  for  you  and  to 
give  you  without  labor  those  gifts  which  he  has 
expressly  declared  shall  not  be  enjoyed  except 
as  the  fruit  of  labor. 

6.  Pray  always  with  special  reference  to  the 
needs  of  the  day  and  the  hour ; — the  warfare 
to  be  waged,  the  temptations  to  be  resisted,  the 
work  to  be  done,  the  sorrow  to  be  borne  ;  put 
your  life  into  your  prayer;  and  let  it  be  the 
most  real  and  the  most  immediate  business  of 
your  life. 

No  doubt  these  seasons  of  secret  devotion 
will  sometimes  be  seasons  of  conflict.  It  was 
when  our  Lord  was  alone  in  the  wilderness  that 
Satan  tempted  him ;  and  every  one  who  seeks 
the  still  hour  will  be  sure  to  encounter  the  same 
adversary.  Times  of  reflection  are  often  times 
of  doubt.  While  we  are  pondering  the  great 
themes  of  eternity  the  unexplained  and  inex- 
plicable mysteries  of  the  life  that  is  to  come 
will  sometimes  settle  like  a  thick  mist  upon  our 
minds  and  envelop  us  in  bewildering  uncertain- 
ties Oftener  still  our  own  lapses  into  sin,  our 
failures  to  keep  the  vows  we  have  spoken,  or  to 
conquer  the  evils  we  have  tried    to  overcome 


THE  christian's   QUIET   LIFE.  1 39 

fill  US  with  discouragement,  and  make  us  doubt 
whether  there  be  indeed  any  truth  in  this  Gos- 
pel we  profess.  For  the  solution  of  these 
doubts  there  are  a  few  simple  rules. 

1.  **  Hold  fast  that  which  thou  hast."  In 
khe  midst  of  this  uncertainty,  some  things  will 
be  certain.  Adhere  to  these.  You  are  per- 
plexed about  many  duties  but  there  are  duties 
about  which  you  have  no  misgivings.  Set  right 
about  them  with  a  resolute  purpose  and  a  thor- 
ough diligence. 

2.  Resolve  that  just  as  fast  as  truth  is  given 
you,  you  will  accept  it  and  live  by  it. 

3.  Remember  that  religious  truth  can  never 
be  ascertained  by  mere  speculation.  It  is  largely 
truth  of  experience  and  can  only  find  entrance 
to  the  mind  through  the  life.  It  is  heat  as  well 
as  light,  and  you  must  suffer  it  to  warm  the 
heart  as  well  as  to  illuminate  the  intellect. 
That  is  to  say,  you  must  study  it  with  youi 
affections  as  well  as  with  your  reason.  Take 
therefore  the  character  of  Christ  as  delineated  in 
the  Gospels,  and  the  character  of  God  as  Christ 
has  unfolded  it  in  his  teachings,  and  reverently 
study  them,  asking  yourself  all  the  while  what 


140  THE   CHRISTIAN   WAY. 

relation  yod  sustain  to  these  persons;  and 
whether  there  is  in  your  heart  and  life  any  room 
for  such  a  friend.ship  as  that  which  Christ  offers, 
any  need  of  such  a  salvation  as  he  has  provided, 
any  witness  to  the  truth  of  which  his  life  is  the 
revelation.  I  think  that  when  you  come  to 
study  carefully  first  your  own  moral  condition, 
and  then  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ, 
you  will  find  a  marvelous  correlation  between 
them,  and  that  you  will  be  convinced  tjiat  he  is 
indeed  the  very  Friend  you  need.  If  you  will 
then  commit  yourself  to  him  as  your  Saviour 
and  your  Guide,  you  will  soon  find  the  way  out 
of  your  bewilderment. 

This  topic  is  too  large  to  be  treated  here 
with  any  fullness  ;  let  me  commend  to  all  whose 
lives  are  sometimes  overcast  by  the  haze  of  un- 
belief, a  noble  sermon  of  Dr.  BushnelFs,  printed 
in  his  last  volume,  and  entitled  "  The  Dissolv- 
ing of  Doubts." 

I  have  spoken  now  of  the  Christian's  quiet 
hour  in  the  closet,  the  hour  that  is  sacred  to 
study  and  thought  and  prayer,  the  hour  which 
he  sets  apart  for  silent  communings  with  things 
unseen  and  with   Him  whose  presence  fills  all 


Till'  christian's  quiet  life.         141 

secret  places.  But  the  Christian  lives  a  quiet 
life  outside  the  closet,  llis  communion  with 
high  truth,  and  with  the  Invisible  God  is  not 
all  enjoyed  in  secret  places.  In  the  clatter  of 
the  shop,  in  the  din  of  the  street,  in  the  hum 
o^"  busy  voices  he  is  often  alone  with  God. 

"Still  with  thee,  O  my  God, 
I  would  desire  to  he, 
By  day,  by  night,  at  home,  abroad, 
i  would  be  still  with  thee. 

•*Wifh  thee  when  dawn  comes  in 
And  calls  me  back  to  care  ; 
Cach  day  returning  to  begin 
With  thee,  my  Gotl,  in  prayer. 

"With  Thee  amid  the  crowd 
That  throngs  the  busy  mart ; 
To  hear  thy  voice,  'mid  clamor  loud, 
Speak  softly  to  mv  heart." 

It  Js  this  consciousness  of  a  presence  always 
near,  in  the  noise  as  well  as  in  the  silence,  of  a 
help  that  never  fails  in  danger  and  extremit)-, 
that  makes  the  Christian's  life  so  blessed.  The 
comfort  of  this  assurance  is  very  sweet.  So 
long  as  he  keeps  it  he  is  safe  from  temptation 
and  strong  for  duty.  The  Friend  that  walks 
unseen   beside  Him  is  mighty  to  deliver.     His 


142  THE  CHRISTIAN  WAY. 

thought,  reaching  out  in  the  pauses  of  his  toil, 
in  the  emergencies  of  his  experience,  always 
iC5ts  on  the  Almighty  Helper.  Quick  as  the 
volition  can  spring  from  the  brain  to  the  eyelid, 
the  desire  can  fly  to  Immanuel  and  come  back 
satisfied.  "  Let  your  thoughts,"  says  Dr.  Alex- 
ander, '^  during  the  employments  of  the  day 
often  go  up  in  ejaculatory  prayer,  which  is  so 
called  because  such  aspirations  are  like  arrows 
shot  up  toward  heaven  ;  and  blessed  is  he  that 
hath  his  quiver  full  of'them.' 


THE  END. 


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